My mother put me in piano lessons when I was five years old. And though I learned sonatas and waltzes, Beethoven and Mozart, I was learning to play piano to serve the Lord. My mother has always been involved in every facet of church life…

Last week I received a call from our foster care agency: There’s another child in need of care. He’s two years old, and his mom was arrested. It’s only for three days. Can we take him? I think about my hectic schedule…

For active love is a harsh and fearful thing compared to love in dreams. Love in dreams thirsts for immediate action, quickly performed, and with everyone looking on. Whereas active love is labor and perseverance, and for some people, perhaps, a whole science…

I was born in Santa Barbara, California — gorgeous, clean, sunny Santa Barbara. Eight years ago, I bought a home in Kensington, a notoriously poor and drug-ridden section of Philadelphia. For the first few years I lived here, trash would rain into my backyard from neighboring rooftops (cereal boxes…

Finding out what we’re enslaved to can be hard. Recently, I’ve been reflecting on how entertainment has held me in bondage. I doubt that I’m alone in this. I think many of us find ourselves just wanting to zone out, heat up some leftovers…