Toward the end of spring semester, I set a box labeled "I Always Wanted to Ask" on the table at the front of my class. I invited students to write down lingering questions about sex and gender, the subject of our course at Messiah College. Read More
Recently in Life Category



The New York Times recently profiled an Oregon couple who winnowed their possessions down to 100 things,
giving away most of what they owned and cozying up in a 400-square-foot
apartment. The article discussed new (read: more cautious) spending
patterns, spurred by the recession but potentially having long-term
staying power. Read More

He was a workaholic. She was unfaithful. The Markleys were headed for divorce until a movie changed their course.
Husbands who earn less than their partners are up to five times more likely to
cheat, the report found. Researchers believe that some men seek out affairs to compensate for the
emotional pain that comes with losing their traditional breadwinner status.
A few days ago, I read something
that caught my attention. The essence of the message was that reading is
active. You must be alive and involved in the process. Contrast that
kind of learning with watching a film or listening to a lecture, which
may be inactive.

Leadership often draws the wrong kinds of people. Positions of power and influence have the tendency to attract the
proud and the upwardly mobile, self-seeking individualists. A good
example of this can be seen in the public images of power-obsessed
leadership that are so often projected as the ideal in our success
hungry world. Read More
A popular female evangelist arrived at an airport and was escorted to
the baggage claim area. After she retrieved her luggage she was taken to
the passenger pickup lounge where she met her hosts from a local
church, who planned to take her in a comfortable van to a nearby hotel
so she could rest before speaking at an evening service. Read More
My husband and I are trying to get our kids to
consistently do their chores. We've tried threats and rewards but worry
that our extrinsic motivators are holding our kids back from learning to
obey simply because it's the right thing to do. "Gee," we long to hear
them say, "my folks love me and know what's best for me, so I better
pick up that broom and chip in."
Live long enough and you will learn this lesson: Anyone could do
anything in certain circumstances. Just as bad people do bad things,
sometimes good people do bad things; not just "minor" bad things, such
as the proverbial white lie, but major things. Read More
Last year, I traded a New York City apartment for a house in a Midwestern cornfield. After living on the East Coast for nearly a decade, I didn't know what to expect from the dramatic change of scenery. The thought crossed my mind that the move might show me something new about America. It ended up showing me something new about God. Read More
When I recently asked 3,000 parents what they would change if
they could start over again in their parenting, the number one response
was, "I'd be more consistent." Read More
Apartment hunters always have a wish list of things that will help them call a new place home -- doormen, laundry rooms, southern exposures.
There are no shortage of niche dating sites, offering to serve everyone from women "in their prime" seeking younger men to ladies hunting for wealthy men to married couples interested in extramarital affairs. Read More










