getting in trouble
One day during class, Adrionna Harris noticed something disturbing—one of her young classmates cutting himself with a small razor. As she perceived it to be a grave situation, she did what she thought was the right thing to do—stepped in, took the razor from him, and threw it away. But instead of receiving praise, her compassionate act earned her a 10-day suspension. Asked if she would do it again, Adrionna replied: “Even if I got in trouble, it didn’t matter because I was helping him . . . I would do it again even if I got suspended.”
why didn’t He protect us?
Our lives began to fall apart when my daughter took her life,” the woman told me during a break in the conference we were both attending. “And then our second daughter spiraled into depression and started to ‘self-harm.’ After several months we discovered the reason why: While my husband and I were missionaries in Indonesia, two of our three children had been sexually abused at a mission-run school. We had given our lives to serve God. . . . Why didn’t He protect us?” I would hear similar stories at that conference—people who felt betrayed by God.
who can i trust?
In 1942, more than 250,000 Jews were transported by the Nazis from Warsaw to the death camp in Treblinka, Poland. Most of these Jews were killed. A social worker named Irena Sendler, however, posed as a nurse to get into the Warsaw ghetto and rescue children. She managed to smuggle more than 2,500 to safety. In hopes of reuniting the children with their families after the war concluded, she hid the children’s names in two jars buried under an apple tree.
crime and punishment
An English media personality was highly honored when he was alive. At his funeral, someone said of him, “His story was an epic of giving. Giving of time, giving of talent, giving of treasure. [He] can face eternal life with confidence.” But then the police launched a criminal investigation into more than 300 allegations of child sexual abuse and rape by the deceased.
firewalkers
Firewalkers fascinate me. These people have a special something that allows them to look down at a bed of hot coals, unbuckle their sandals or peel off their socks, and step right in. Some see it as a rite of passage, a way to conquer fear, or a way to uncover some hidden vein of inner strength. Whatever the reason,…
deep waters, dark nights
In the film The Perfect Storm, a captain and crew head out for what they hope will be an uneventful fishing expedition. In their quest for a bountiful catch, they motor far past their normal fishing location. There they find great success, but as they turn for home they encounter the horrifying combination of two powerful weather fronts and a hurricane.…
