family feud
A Sicilian man wasn’t a criminal, but he asked police to arrest and jail him. When local authorities refused, he entered a nearby store and swiped a pack of gum. Then he threatened the store clerk and waited for the cops to show up! His motive? He was trying to avoid spending time with his relatives on New Year’s Eve.…
who's in your five?
Who’s in your Five?” is the slogan of a cell phone company which offers its customers unlimited calls to their five favorite people. The advertisements for this plan remind us that we are not vitally important to everyone and that everyone is not equally important to us.
We all must choose whom to let into our inner circle. If you…
designed for relationship
Human beings are mysteriously designed for relationship. Isolate someone in a room and eventually he or she will become stressed, and confused, and their sleep will be disturbed. The chronically isolated person will become ill more often and have a higher risk of heart disease. In fact, their genes will begin to decay—one researcher likened chronic loneliness to “premature aging.”…
never alone
She remembered the day her dad left. Though only a child, she lay in bed and listened to her mother crying herself to sleep in the other room. At 5 years of age, she determined she would never be the cause of her mom’s tears. Now 14, she shared how she had determined to be happy and carefree in front…
trumping tradition
It’s tough when tradition trumps family. Daman Rao knows this bitter reality only too well. Born in a small south Asia village to a family steeped in superstitious tradition, he was despised and mistreated by them for simply being the fifth child and a boy.
Fortunately, as Daman grew into his teens, he was befriended by believers in Jesus and…
count the cost
When world-renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti was a youth, he became the pupil of a professional tenor in Italy. Later, he studied music education in college. Upon graduating, he asked his father, “Shall I be a teacher or a singer?”
“Luciano,” his father replied, “if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must…
tender talk
Sheryl Crow gets it—at least when it comes to loneliness. Many of her song lyrics express our longing for relationships and the questions that bubble to the surface when we live in isolation for too long. Does anybody want me? Does anybody need me? What will I do if the answer is “no”?
For Hagar, the answer was no, and…
gentle answers
Feeling anger emanating from every place inside me, I reached in the drawer for a folder and slammed it on the desk. The loud noise satisfied my irritation, but only for a moment. My frustration only deepened as I realized how emotionally intense I had become. All because of my daughter’s grade school party.
Disappointed that she was going to miss…
get specific
We begin life wide open. Our young lives can be shaped into anything from ballerina to astronaut to dolphin trainer. But maturity narrows our options. Soon we’re forced to choose college majors and jobs and careers. Each choice funnels our energy into specific tracks and closes doors to countless others. By the time we reach 30, many of us have…
family ties
Thwack! The sound signaled trouble. With our parents gone, my sister and I had started a mashed potato fight instead of doing the dishes. Chasing her down the stairs with tinfoil box in hand, I was determined she wouldn’t win even though I was younger. The strains of victory died, however, when an unseen door met with her glasses. We…
be the winner
I can’t think of a time when I’d pay to watch sibling rivalry in action—well, maybe one. It would be fun to witness in person a match between tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams. Before the two sisters competed at Wimbledon in 2008, Venus remarked, “It’s every Williams for herself.”
Venus and Serena battle as professional athletes. But many of…
breaking bread
Last month my brothers and our families enjoyed an outstanding dinner with our Amish cousins. The Amish begin every dinner with a silent prayer of thanksgiving, and—perhaps because their homemade meals are so delicious—they do it again at the end. Besides their terrific food, I was struck by the Amish emphasis on fellowship. Mealtime wasn't merely a refueling pit stop,…
