WILL YOU BE READY? Abraham Lincoln once said, "I will prepare, and some day my chance will come." When his chance came, he was ready. During his seminary years, one priest-in-training sported a T-shirt that never failed to bring chuckles. Across the...

An army chaplain tells of the time he was asked to preach at a church some 20 miles from the base. He took his family along, but had ne­glected to tell his six-year-old daughter where they were going. After a few miles on the road, she asked, "Dad, ...

WHEN OTHERS GRIEVE People should never have to suffer loss alone. Yet, how do you comfort those who mourn? It is no doubt one of the most important things we can do for one another. And sometimes one of the most difficult. Experts tell us, among oth...

WHEN THE MESSAGE LIGHT DOESN'T BLINK Seeing one of her neighbor's children playing alone, a woman asked him where his brother was. "Oh," he said, "he's in the house playing a duet. I finished first." Too many people find themselves playing a duet al...

SETTING YOUR OUTLOOK A man who fell off a skyscraper was heard to say as he passed the 12th floor, "So far, so good!" One might say he was an optimist. I believe in optimism. I believe that there is great power in an optimistic attitude, especially ...

Cyrus McCormick, who invented the reaper and founded the company that became International Harvester, was a generous contributor to Chicago's Presbyterian Theological School. Because of that fact, the school later changed its name to McCormick Theological...