When you think of Saint Patrick’s Day, you likely think of shamrocks or sporting green, but Patrick’s life was full of drama and adventure rather than luck and leprechauns. When Patrick was 16, he was captured by Irish raiders and taken from his homeland (possibly Britain), and sold as a...

Molly Bwalya is a student at the University of Lusaka, Zambia. We all know why people go to universities: to get an education, in order to get a job, in order to get money, in order to provide one’s material needs and wants. Those aren’t bad goals, of course. Yet, there is an infinitely...

Words carry meaning. I say “cat” and immediately an image pops into your head. I say “dog” and the image changes. Some words mean little some mean a lot. And some words mean so much that reality itself would implode without the meaning they carry. Hesed and agape are two...

Back in 1992, IBM launched an ad campaign with a single word: think. It was brilliant because who doesn't want to be regarded as a thinker? But then, in 1997, along came Steve Jobs and Apple who launched what is regarded as one of the most creative strokes of advertising...

The prophet Isaiah foretold the first advent of Christ with the words, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder” (Isaiah 9:6). Government? What’s government got to do with it? I thought Jesus was born of the...

As a species, we’re kind of obsessed with love stories. They’re in everything we read, write, watch, and talk about. We can’t help but root for the guy to get the girl or for the girl to finally be noticed and for them to ride off into the sunset. And...

“Gratitude exclaims, very properly, ‘How good of God to give me this.’” —C.S. Lewis Twelve years ago, I lost my wife to breast cancer. It was by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever experienced.  All of us sustain losses. The pandemic has reminded us of this sad truth. I’m...

Mimi ni mwanadamu aliyechanganyikiwa. Je suis un humain confus. Esmu apmulsis cilvēks. Soy una humana confundida. How did you feel just now when your brain tried to read those words? Confused? Dumb? If you’re like 43% of the world who are bilingual and one of the languages you speak happens...

“Look! I drew you something!” If you’re friends with any little kids, you know how special it is when they draw you something. Whether it’s a lopsided heart, purple clouds, or a misspelled message, there’s lots of love in a note from a child. Keith and Brooke Desserich were devastated...

“You’re obsessed!” My friend Elise laughed at me as she sat down on my bed. The month before, my mom, step-dad, and I went to watch a movie called JoJo Rabbit for my twenty-eighth birthday, and I fell in love with it. This was not one of those situations where...

There were no child services to take care of Margret and her brother when they lost their parents. Two of the hundreds of thousands of orphans in Tanzania, they grew up along the shores of Lake Victoria. Margret managed to survive by cleaning houses while her brother worked down at...

One Thursday evening this past February, I gathered up a can of tomato paste, old newspaper, dry coconut husk, sewing scissors, and a grocery bag of bright-colored envelopes. Squatting on the ground, I wrapped the can of tomato paste with a long strip of newspaper, around and around, into a...