A father and son walked along the beach following a vicious storm that washed thousands of starfish onto the sand, where they would die in the summer sun. As the son bent to fling first one, then another starfish back into the sea, his father said, “Son, I appreciate your efforts, but you’ll never make a difference to all the starfish stranded on the beach.” Bending yet again and tossin...

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My son kneeled by his son, who zealously guarded his freshly minted ice cream cone, and asked for a taste. Caleb declined the request and pulled the cone closer to himself. Nathan said, “Caleb, I want you to have a generous heart. May I have a taste?” Caleb offered the cone to his dad, who then offered Caleb a taste of his own cone. A generous heart can be cultivated and nurtur...

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What is the issue for Christians in the American debate about whether or not Muslims should be “allowed” to build a mosque in Manhattan? Such a mosque would not be the first in Manhattan. There already are several and in 1991 a mosque opened at 1711 Third Ave. in upper Manhattan built with money from the governments of Kuwait, Libya and Saudi Arabia The proposed cultural center/mos...

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When 10,000 bicycle riders take off from the Missouri River on Iowa’s western edge to ride nearly 500 miles to the Mississippi River on the eastern edge, every driveway entrepreneur and business on the route oils its cash register drawer. The whisk of wheels and soft grinding of chains on bikes that number 20,000 some days is the sound of a fiscal funnel pouring into the small towns the swarm...

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Diana Garland speaks with the fervency of an evangelist who knows that if someone walks out the door unmoved by her message, it will be an opportunity likely lost forever. Garland, dean of Baylor University’s School of Social Work, is author of a groundbreaking study on clergy sexual misconduct in the church. “Don’t call it an affair,” she says, when a person in the emotionally powerful positi...

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