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.

The “wise men” of the Christmas story are foreigners who travel from another country to see Jesus and are welcomed by the Holy Family.  But these wise men are part of a much bigger story that Matthew is telling in his Gospel.  What is Matthew's bigger point, and how do the wise men fit into it?

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?

Invite everyone at your Christmas dinner or party to try this quiz as a party game. See if you can identify what the Bible actually says about Christmas vs. what the Christmas carols and movies say.

If you were God and had just done something amazing, who would you tell? God told shepherds: today's garbage collectors, janitors, maids, dishwashers, delivery drivers, and farmers. He has a message for them and us today.

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.

Evangelical and Catholic Christians all over the world, except for some in the United States, know that climate change is real and are working to reverse the damage to our planet and address the ways it disrupts and devastates so many lives. At a conference, Pope Leo said: God will ask us if we cultivated and cared for the world and took care of our brothers and sisters. In the Bible, God commands us to do both. Do we?

My family spent a day in Muir Woods National Monument, the home of giant redwood trees that are spectacular not just because they are tall, but also because of their variety and character, which tell us something about God and ourselves. The bark of each tree is unique, as is each tree's roots. Each human is also different on the surface and below. Every tree and human is designed to honor the glory of God. Can we delight in the bark of every tree, and the skin of every perso

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?

The apostle Paul shows how to pray for others: that they may abound in love for all and that God may strengthen them to live a life devoted to God’s purposes (1 Thess. 3:12-13). Could you pray that prayer for someone?

The Bible uses images of God as a mother, in addition to images of God as a father, to help us understand how great God’s love is for us. Many people have anxiety-producing images of God as a stern disciplinarian. In the Bible, God uses images of being like a mother to express God’s intimate love and tenderness toward us.