How do we live a meaningful life when we cannot make sense of what happens to us? Layered beneath this question are just some of the others that lead to it: · Is there a God? · If there is a God, then why suffering, especially innocent suffering? · Why does one person, like our first child, get 18 days and another 90 years? · Is there any purpose behind any of this, or do we create purpose ourselves? · Why love when loving someone guarantees that

He had no army. No wealth. No political office. No books written by him. No vast travels. His immediate followers were not powerful people. He was executed young. Yet nearly two thousand years later, Jesus Christ, an obscure man from an ordinary place, has become arguably the most consequential and influential person who ever lived. His influence is undeniable. Our calendars are historically organized around his birth. His image hangs in churches and many other places across

As a former athlete, something is starting to bother me in the post-game interviews on television. The sideline reporter is talking to the star of the game after it just completed, and the player’s first words are “God is good” or “All glory goes to God” or something like these. If God deserves the glory because your field goal went through, what are we supposed to say about the mother whose child died that afternoon? If God intervened so that one team won, why didn't God int

“This guy's walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can't get out. "A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, 'Hey you. Can you help me out?' The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on. "Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, 'Father, I'm down in this hole can you help me out?' The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on "Then a friend walks by, 'Hey, Joe, it's me can you h

Aging is hard. Watching your parents’ age is harder. The people I once saw as steady, authoritative, and almost invincible now seem more fragile with each passing day. Seeing that change unfold is painful in a way that is difficult to describe. I do not mind getting older. Age brings experience, perspective, and wisdom earned over many years. What frightens me, though, is the possibility of losing the ability to think clearly or move freely. That fear feels especially close n

“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book IV (trans. George Long) It is early Monday morning, and a wonderful weekend in New Orleans has come to an end. As I open my laptop and begin to write, I feel deeply grateful but also unexpectedly sad. The sadness is not simply about leaving the city o

Many people have no choice – they must move. Move for safety, food, shelter, survival, or a better life. Most of us fortunate enough to live in the United States have the opposite problem: modern life has made it possible for us to not move at all. One thing I wish I'd done when I was younger was exercise more - stay more active. I moved constantly through high school and most of college. Then came graduation, marriage, and life got in the way. I thought I was invincible. I s