The election of Barack Obama, now the first African-American president of the United States, marks many firsts, many changes in our nation’s history. But one change perhaps overlooked is the expanded use of the Internet and social media to reach a greater number of people than previously, particularly younger voters …
As the population continues to rise, people ask, How does God want me to care for children? This does not imply that God wants all people to be parents or schoolteachers but draws upon the biblical model of adoption and care for orphans …
Carol could never catch up financially. Before she could pay for rent, food and child care, her purse was empty. As we became friends, I often found her staring into an empty refrigerator and crying over her broken marriage. Although she was a teacher, she didn’t manage money well and was too devastated by her divorce to care …
Tears flow freely this week. Fatback died a few days ago. Liver failure. Caroline gathers us into a circle around the plastic folding table. Hand in hand—some more filthy than others …
I studied in the Middle East with Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va., during the fall semester of my junior year, and this period of international learning altered the course of my life. My experiences abroad initiated misgivings about going into medicine after graduation, I began a period of global travel to explore possibilities …
Scattered throughout Scripture are variations on the saying that “all flesh is grass” or, as Psalm 103:15-16 puts it, “As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, its place knows it no more.” The image has come to me often these days. It came as I helped my father join my mother in assisted living …
Who am I? Who are we as a people? We all ask this question in relationship to family, friends and community. To answer, we look for help outside ourselves. Yet the search on our journey from adolescence to adulthood remains largely an internal search for self-identity …
