How to stay informed—without losing your cool or your sanity. These days, it’s hard to check the news or scroll social media without finding a new evil or injustice has been foisted upon us. Political gerrymandering, the Iran war, rising gas prices, vaccine skeptics at the CDC—and that was yesterday. Once a news junkie, for my own mental well-being, I’ve personally instituted a news and social media curfew that runs from 9pm to 9am. Out of sight and (sort of)... Read more
What would it mean to approach death with acceptance, openness, and courage? To see the process of death as a necessary part of life, not its enemy? ~Liz Bucar, Beyond Wellness What a terminal diagnosis can teach us about life. I once experienced my own death—or I at least imagined I did. It happened many years ago, when I was in my 30s, and living in Houston. I had come down with a bad case of the flu and stayed... Read more
Finding True Purpose and Making the Most of Your Life In the foreword to the revised and updated edition of Richard Rohr’s Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, Brene Brown talks about a subject we all can relate to: homesickness. Just the word summons up a longing we know too well, the desire to return to the familiar and comfortable. Yet, the ache we feel inside isn’t always about home. Our yearning can also take on... Read more
The “UFO of God” Guy and His Startling Iran War Prophecy for April 5, 2026. I wrote about Chris Bledsoe several months ago in a story titled When God Sends a UFO. I was scrolling the social media site Threads a couple of nights ago when I saw his name mentioned—and what I read startled me, to the point I had to read it twice. It seems that Bledsoe has made a prophecy that has to do with the war... Read more
Finding wisdom and “humble disagreement” in the private letters of a Christian giant. Are you familiar with the work of C.S. Lewis? He wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, a classic seven-book series and film franchise built on Christian themes and theology. And his book Mere Christianity is still a bestseller in Christian literature, recently holding the #1 position in that category on Amazon 75 years after its release. Recently, several of the nearly forty books Lewis wrote during his lifetime were... Read more
I’ve spent most of my life living in the Northeast, and this time of year I get antsy. By the middle of March, we’ve been teased by a few sunny, 60-plus degree days, the kind of weather that get me thinking about my happy place: the beach. But just as day turns to night, the warm days are followed by chilly ones. This morning, it was 27 degrees. Don’t get me wrong, I love where I live. (In case you’re... Read more
Most of us think of heaven as a faraway place, somewhere up in the clouds, a destination we won’t reach until after our death. But what if we got it wrong? What if heaven was closer than we could ever imagine—and, according to the Bible, can be found right here on earth. That’s the premise of God’s Homecoming: The Forgotten Promise of Future Renewal by N.T. Wright, a former Bishop in the Church of England. Considered one of the world’s... Read more
Have you played pickleball yet? I took it up several months ago and it’s probably the first new sport I tried since I was 12 years old, or half-a-century ago. But after some prodding from my pickleball-playing wife, I gave it a go. And I’ve got to say, I like it. Playing pickleball got me thinking about a book I read decades ago: The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by W.... Read more
Can thinking about death get us more tuned in to life? The ancient philosophers called the Stoics, who lived around the time of Jesus, had a practice known as memento mori. It’s a Latin phrase that literally means “remember you must die.” And while it may sound like a real downer, it was a way for the Stoics to strip away the trivialities of life and focus on what matters. The Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius would jot down notes in... Read more
From Madonna to Mick Jagger to Ariana Grande: The Lure of Kabbalah What is it about Kabbalah that seems to draw celebrity followers? You may have spotted the iconic red string bracelets that symbolize Kabballah on the wrists of actors like Gwyneth Paltrow and Lindsay Lohan and musicians from Madonna to Mick Jagger to pop singer Ariana Grande. The Wicked star turned to its teachings for a more grounded perspective on life and says it has helped her life unfold... Read more
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