In junior high, I used to shoot 100 free throws a day but could never make more than 57 shots. Elite athletes pour their heart and soul into the pursuit of excellence. What can we learn from them as we pursue our goals?

When a coworker, teammate, church member, student, or family member is not doing the right thing, what should we do? It is tempting to respond with anger. This expert on human relationships offers a different approach that is more effective in dealing with difficult people. Take a look at what to do – and what not to do.

Last week’s SpaceX rocket launch was awe-inspiring because engineers and scientists spent years using their gifts and talents to achieve an amazing goal.  When we use the curiosity, creativity, and intellect that God placed in us at our creation, to do good, it is awesome and can bring glory to God, even if that is not our intention.

The song “This Little Light of Mine” comes from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:13-16), where Jesus tells us to let our light shine. But what is the “light” we are called to shine? Jesus’s answer might surprise you.

We face 3 common temptations: to fill our wants inappropriately, to seek inordinate attention, and to pursue power at the cost of integrity. They lure our public figures. How do you respond when they entice you?

As I looked at my friend’s body, the message was clear: Your days are numbered; use the time you have well.  It’s a lesson that applies both to our personal lives and to our professional lives.

My Christmas cactus didn’t bloom for years. When it did, I learned some lessons about having patience and not judging others.

How much good news can you capture in just 8 notes? Take a look at this video to see. Then ask yourself: What are the “pauses” in your life that are needed between the notes, to help the good news sound clearly?

The movie “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” was not written by or for Christians, but it shows an ordinary Christian trying to be a channel of God's grace – something every Christian is called to do. How does that show up in the middle of a murder mystery?

Most people love a good love story – in movies and plays, in literature and books. But many people don’t realize that the greatest love story in the history of the world is celebrated every year – and YOU are in the story!

God loves you more than the birds, more than the moon and stars, more than you can imagine. Listen to Matthew West as he expresses these truths in his powerful song “More.” Then accept and embrace God's love, and shine brightly.

I was watching a movie last night, and a character explained something bad that happened by saying, "It was God's will." Christians sometimes say this. But, while God allows evil, he does not cause evil, and evil is never his will.  We need to be more precise in our language and ask the right questions.

God doesn’t force us to let him be part of our lives. Read this wonderful poem by Thomas Edward Brown, touted by Madeleine L’Engle, that calls us to make room for him so that he can fill us with himself. Are we too full of ourselves to make a space for him? “If thou could'st empty all thyself of self....”

Les Misérables director John Caird says, "As a bunch of liberal humanists, we had tried to avoid every mention of religion, [but] sewing God into the show was what animated the characters." We have the same opportunity: to let God sew himself into the fabric of our lives so that he animates our character and gives life to everything we do.

You’ve probably heard the words “faith, hope, and love” together many times. Take this 6-question quiz to see how much you know about them. Who was the first person to talk about “faith, hope, and love” (Shakespeare? the Bible?) and what do they mean?

What difference can a bell make? The atomic bomb that killed 74,000 people in Nagasaki permanently silenced one of the two bells of the city’s Urakami Cathedral. Thanks to James Nolan, exactly 80 years later a replacement bell rang out for the first time, a gift from Christians as a tangible act of peacemaking and solidarity. How can you or I be a peacemaker?

Many political leaders and social influencers show mercy only to people they agree with. That isn’t what Jesus meant by “Blessed are the merciful.” Can we show mercy consistently in our social media and politics, even to those we don’t agree with?

In the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful.” Mercy is compassion in action. How can we show mercy to others? How can our government treat people with mercy, and in what ways is it failing?

In the Beatitudes, Jesus challenges us to hunger for righteousness – to have a deep desire to do what is right.  But how do we know we have the right goals and are pursuing them in the right ways?

Jesus calls us to a different set of values than we see from many star performers and political and business leaders.  Christians are called to live in God’s realm, even as we also live in the world. (Matthew 5:1-12)