Source: Don’t you love these kinds of stories?! There exists, somewhere within the general vicinity of Bellingham, Mass., a layaway hero. This was proven earlier this week, when customers at a Toys R Us learned that a woman — whose identity is not yet known — walked in and paid off the entire layaway balance for the store in full. Yep. The. Whole. Balance. That means the woman paid for about $20,000 worth of merchandise on more than 150 accounts, according... Read more

By Jason Micheli www.tamedcynic.org ‘God was in Jesus reconciling the world to himself…’ The Hairy Mole in the Manger So I’ve got this mole, right here on my shoulder. It’s not gross or anything. It’s just large and discolored and has a few hairs growing out of it. ‘Suspicious’ my former pre-med Mrs calls it, right before she points at it and quotes that line from Uncle Buck. My wife, Ali, has been after me for months to go to... Read more

Great story: A 47-year-old woman was caught stealing eggs in Tarrant, Ala., over the weekend. But instead of arresting Helen Johnson, police officer William Stacy bought her a carton of eggs in exchange for a promise never to shoplift again. That wasn’t the end of it. The story garnered so much attention, that offers of donations of money, food and clothes poured in from around the world. “The last time I saw my house this full, I was 12-years-old and... Read more

Fred Sanders is a theologian who teaches in the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University.  Fred’s twitter handle is @fredfredsanders.   His personal web site is www.fredfredfred.com, and he blogs at www.scriptoriumdaily.com.  He is the author of Wesley on the Christian Life. The following interview is conducted by David George Moore.  Dave blogs at www.twocities.org. Moore: Years ago, I heard John Piper say that the Arminians of today are nothing like the Arminians of Wesley’s day.  His comment centered on an... Read more

Simon Worrall: Physical anthropologists use the term osteobiography, meaning “biography of the bones.” Who was Kennewick Man? Where and how did he live and die? Kennewick Man is not what I’d have expected before we began the analysis and before I’d seen him. He was found on the banks of theColumbia River in 1996. He’s about five feet seven and a half. His weight is right around 161 pounds. He’s very wide-bodied, very strong. Age of death is around 40. From... Read more

Victoria Albanese, from Church of the Redeemer: Most of the students at Sonrise School who lost one or both parents during the horrific Rwandan genocide claiming over one million lives 20 years ago are now enrolled in upper grades or have graduated. Nearly 100 are earning college degrees, including 40 in the United States and two locally. But Sonrise, founded 2001 as a boarding school in the mountainous district of Musanze to care for orphans of the genocide, is still... Read more