The queen of small, guilty pleasures

"Did you hear what he did?" "Guess what we found out about our new colleague!" In spite of their apparent enthusiasm, gossips—people who laugh loudly and try to capture the attention of others through the tantalising information they have to share—are often not as happy as they seem.

Lessons from the radiotherapy room

Lying on my back, naked except for a sheet draped over my lower body, arms tucked behind my head, I’m feeling vulnerable and exposed. The radiotherapist leaves the room. I’m all alone. I begin to panic as I anticipate the beams of radiation about to penetrate my skin.

Hudson Taylor | When the mountains move aside

Hudson Taylor undertook eleven journeys between Europe and China, and his mission prospered. He had one of the most complex and successful visions for evangelism.

Single parents and children’s religious education

Is it possible, as single parents, to instil in our children a love for God and for the church?

Boredom: how many ways can you scratch an itch?

"All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone" (Blaise Pascal).

More than just one thing

If you were asked to describe who you are, what would you highlight first?

No one deserves to have that much money

In a dilapidated shack in Nairobi, a young woman makes her confession to the BBC reporter eager to hear her story: “I don’t know why God allows some people to be poor while others are rich.”

How people have viewed earthquakes throughout history

Earthquakes have always struck fear into the hearts of people who didn't know why the earth was shaking but who saw how easily their possessions or loved ones could be lost to such tremors.

Roger Williams

It is no coincidence that the first Baptist church in the United States, the first synagogue, and the first Quaker assembly house are all located in the small American state of Rhode Island. Their existence is due to the influence of Roger Williams, who resolutely upheld the principle of freedom of conscience more than 100 years before it was invoked in the First...

How to grow a dream of a lifetime

Pull out the high school years from the archives and carefully browse the file with daily memories. Don’t you think that the details of the clothes, the house, the room, the school, the classroom are all there with hyperthymestic precision?

“Courting controversy”: When taking a stand can risk it all

Naomi Osaka has forever tarnished the sanctity of the great game of tennis... at least, according to the media.

Is faith reasonable?

Science and faith, as important tools in the knowledge process, are often perceived to be in a tense relationship with each other, because of the fundamentally different worldviews that characterize them. The implications for life’s big questions are obvious—and sufficient to rob someone of the comfort of indifference towards such high-stakes conclusions.

Never enough money? A road to financial independence

The memory of having spent all the money in my account and still having a week to go until my next salary is painfully vivid to me, even though it has been quite a few years since that was my month-to-month reality.

Dislike for the likes that manipulate us

Paris, November 13, 2015. A European capital is struck cruelly by fundamentalists who justify their crimes in the name of something sacred—an event that shocked the entire world. It was neither the first nor, unfortunately, the last tragedy whose impact on the public has become a subject of analysis.

The lamb that was slain for me

"The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" (Genesis 22:7).