“If you do not turn from your sins, you will die,” shouts one boy on the street to pedestrians. “It’s that simple. You either turn, or you burn.” Jonah is one of the LaVelle family’s 10 children, and they are all part of an evangelistic movement known as the Spokane Street Preachers.
Chuck Feeney, cofounder of Duty Free Shoppers and multibillionaire, is now broke. For most, this would mean too many private islands purchased, but for Feeney, it’s the achievement of a lifelong dream.
He’s given away about $8 billion, without fanfare, often anonymously.
My church high school group regularly showed us NOOMA videos, created by Rob Bell to help connect Christian teaching to real-life situations. As a teen, I found them helpful. They bridged the gap between ye olde Bible times and the conversations I found myself having with my peers.
“It’s one thing to climb a nearly 500-foot high frozen waterfall in Canada or jump off a cliff in Moab – it’s something completely different to capture a beautiful picture of people doing these things,” wrote Jakob Schiller for Wired.
When we read about Jesus’ miracles in the gospels, it’s hard not to search for a pattern, to see if there’s some kind of checklist or criteria for receiving healing and restoration from God. One particular incident that throws a monkey wrench in any potential pattern is Jesus’ healing of the 10 lepers.
Stephen Post, professor of bioethics, and Jill Neimark, journalist and former editor for Psychology Today, worked together to create the book Why Good Things Happen to Good People.
The command we’re given in 1 Peter 3:15 is a challenging one. “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…” (ESV).
