On a visit to South Africa I visited the tidy home of Nelson Mandela in the Soweto township, which is preserved as a museum.  Just down the street sits Bishop Desmond Tutu’s house.  A slum made famous by its bloody uprisings now boasts the only street in the world that has produced two Nobel Peace Prize winners. Speaking like an Old Testament prophet, Bishop Tutu gives God the credit for the miracle of reconciliation in his country.  “God does have ...

When the Willow Creek Community Church did a survey they found that some in their congregation, and especially their post-Christian friends, thought that all world religions are essentially the same. If their doctrines are similar and point in the same direction, why is it important to choose the “right” one?  In response to the survey, the church invited a learned representative from each of the major faiths to a service.  A Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Jew, and Christian sat together on ...

It’s snowing in Colorado today.  Don’t gloat too hard, though, those of you who live in warmer climes.  I bet you’ve never seen a flower made spontaneously from frost!  (Neither have I–they’re rather rare.  I’m still looking though.) When I climb mountains, I marvel at how much beauty goes unnoticed.  Whole valleys of wild flowers never get seen unless a hiker wanders off the trail.  Or think of all the coral reefs in the ocean yet to be discovered, with ...

I’m writing halfway through our trip to South America, just as we leave Quito, Ecuador, for a visit to the jungle—we actually will reach our hotel by a 20-minute canoe ride!  Yesterday I stood on the equator, with one foot in the northern hemisphere and one foot in the southern.  It’s winter here, though, and Quito lies at an altitude of 8,000 feet, so the temperature has been fine. For some years now I have corresponded with a surgeon who ...