When I was a young kid, there was no official celebration of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. To tell the truth, the Civil Rights movement was still a fairly recent event in the mid-70′s, and many adults I knew back then hadn’t exactly embraced the concept. Now that I have 30 years to...

(Editor’s note:  The following is an excerpt from Chip MacGregor’s new book, 40 Ways to Get Closer to God , which was published under his given name, Jerry MacGregor.) To address God as Abba is the boldest and simplest expression of that absolute trust with which we rely on God for all...

“I’m not going to be your friend any more!” My daughter, four, is rolling away from me, her platinum hair a tangled veil as she kicks her legs to fend off the pants I am trying to pull up her squirming legs. “I know you’re upset that you can’t play with your Legos anymore, but it’s time...

My day started at the women’s maximum security state prison.  In the area that I live there is a men’s and women’s maximum security prison.  I just so happened to have moved in across the street from the men’s maximum security prison, as you may have read, and sure enough a few weeks later...

What do you see when you look at this picture? Obviously there are four feet, two from an adult and two precious little ones from a toddler. I bet that you would never see or assume the truth behind this image, this haunting portrait. The two little feet that you just see were sold for $60 US Dollars...

About six months ago, a little girl died. She was playing in the snow. I’m a newspaper reporter and my editor told me to ask her parents if they’d like to talk. I didn’t want to interrupt. I didn’t want to invite myself — and all of our readers — into their grief. I wanted to protect...

Did you ever see the movie Parenthood? Shining among Ron Howard’s stellar cast of stars are Steve Martin (Gil) and Rick Moranis (Nathan), two fathers trying their best to be a “good pop.” Nathan is insanely obsessed with his theories about tapping the genius within young children;...

“Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.” – I Samuel 1:2 My friend just turned 28.  When we went out to celebrate her birthday, she informed me that her biological clock is now ticking, and all she can think about is having a baby.  So she’s been making plans to get more serious with...

While most of the city is waking up, the doctor is putting my son to sleep.  He’s six years old and doesn’t know what is happening to him.  He only trusts his mom and dad when they say, ‘things will be okay,’ and then the doctor puts a mask over his little face and off to sleep he goes.  The...

Please forgive our tardiness/absence around here lately.  It’s been an eventful couple of weeks. We’d like to welcome two new additions to the Burnside family. First, Ava Mae Adams was born October 7th to Jonathan and Kylah Adams.  She was 6 lbs 7 oz (Jonathan was kind enough to translate...