It’s what you do next that matters.
“I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).
2020 has been tough, and to make things tougher, Christians have found themselves pitted against each other over whether practicing precautions shows a lack of faith. Do we lack faith if we practice Covid precautions? Would it show a greater faith if we cut the cords that separate the seats and call everyone back into worship? Or, if we wear masks, does that show a lack of faith? After all, God will protect us from…
According to psychologists, more than three in five Americans report feeling lonely, and that number has been rising. Zlatin Ivanov, MD, a New York-based psychiatrist, says that, even in the best of circumstances, “Social isolation in most cases would bring the negative effect of loneliness, anxiety, and sometimes depression.” And social distancing during the pandemic has created the perfect hothouse for nurturing lonely, depressed people. And now that we have reached the holidays, it might…
During a recent interview, actor Clarke Peters recalled his first impressions of the late Chadwick Boseman when they worked together on the 2020 war movie Da 5 Bloods. Boseman’s fame had exploded after 2018’s Black Panther, and as Peters tells it, he thought Boseman was a “little bit precious” on the set of Bloods. Boseman, Peters said, was surrounded by people “fawning over him.” Boseman had a “Chinese practitioner massaging his back when he walked…
It was 1981, the start of the academic year, I was a sophomore, and I had just ascended to the exalted position of Editor-in-Chief of our college campus newspaper. I was smart enough to know that our bi-monthly publication wasn’t going to rock the world, but prideful enough to think it should. And I was also inexperienced enough to mistake passion for substance. That semester I wrote a column that taught me a lesson about…
In the last few weeks, educational institutions at all levels have announced their plans for students to return, or not return, to in-person instruction, remote learning options, or some hybrid of the two. And all over America parents of school-aged kids are either cringing or celebrating. It’s the same for college students. Confused, crying, or singing. It all depends on what their institution decided to do this fall. Stay home and receive instruction remotely, come…
Men usually thrive on success, on forward motion, on big decisions. But nothing cripples that forward motion like the fear of failure. After a series of blockbuster films portraying Captain America, actor Chris Evans revealed he almost declined the star-spangled cowl for a reason no one would associate with the First Avenger—fear. In a May 25 interview with the “Awards Chatter” podcast, Evans reminisced about his early days as an actor, his first successes, and…
In 2007 Halle Berry appeared on “Oprah” and candidly shared her struggles to have a child, and she reflected on her fresh interest in motherhood. She explained that while portraying a mother in the film “Things We Lost In the Fire,” she became convinced that motherhood was for her. She said the role “validated that I was meant to be a mother because every day I dealt with the character as a mother and thinking…
Mark Palenske, pastor of Greers Ferry First Assembly of God Church in Arkansas, and his wife, Dena, were sick with Covid-19 for two weeks. Dena was hospitalized for several days but is recovering at home as of March 25. Even before the virus struck him and 34 members of his congregation, Palenske took the warnings seriously and suspended services at the church. Even so, the virus spread. Tuesday, March 24, one of their beloved members,…
April has been designated Stress Awareness Month since 1992, a result of research on the effects of stress that dates back to the 1970s. Good to know. But if there were ever an April that we didn’t need to be reminded of our stress, this would be it. The good news is that this month you can find lots of practical advice to help you cope with stress, and much of it will help while…
Remember that day in January 2018 when Hawaiians were notified to “seek immediate shelter” from an incoming ballistic missile? The event caused mass panic on the islands and alarmed friends and family members all over the world. And actor Jim Carrey was there. In a recent interview with Graham Norton, Carrey was pitching his book Memoirs and Misinformation, and he explained to Norton the odd photo on the front of the book. “There was a…