We all grieve. Yet we often underestimate its impact upon us and those around us. A recent US study, done before this pandemic, found that 57% of Americans are grieving the loss of someone over the last three years. That means, of the two people you meet, one could be grieving. And according to a research by the Australian National University in 2019, the trauma …
What do you expect from life? For Naomi and Ruth, they probably couldn’t expect much. We read their story in the book of Ruth. Chapter one opens with a famine in the land. At that time, Elimelech took his wife Naomi and two sons into the foreign land of Moab. The sons marry Ruth and …
God called us Beloved from the beginning, and Jesus, God in the flesh, spoke Beloved over us again and again as he walked among us. The book of Luke records one of those moments. It’s a story, actually, that Jesus told: about a man battered, a man bereft, a man broken by the sins of …
Written by Kim Cheung, China Granny lay breathless on her bed, making occasional groans and moans due to the pain and discomfort she was feeling. Her wrinkled face seemed to have aged further. I sat by her bedside, never once taking my eyes off her. Summoning up all her strength, she opened her eyes, looking …
Written By Jes Nuylan, Philippines Just a week ago, I received a text message that left me shell-shocked. One of my friends from high school had passed away from heart failure—he was only 18. It didn’t help that my schoolmates and I were still recovering from the death of another of our friends on December …
Written By Lydia Tan, Singapore Any moment now. Her heart leapt with joy as she caught a glimpse of Him. There He was, reclining at the table with Simon the Leper. Oh, how different it felt whenever He was in the room! Things were always different with Him. Lives were changed and miracles happened wherever …
By Sheryl Tay I remember when I had my first crush. It was heart-racing, pulse-throbbing, and I got all fidgety every time I saw him around. And this was no different from all the other subsequent crushes and infatuations I have had. No doubt, as I grew older (and hopefully more mature), I started to …
By Lay Hsuan “Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” — Matthew 13:8 (NIV) We may be familiar with the verse about the seed that falls on good soil. Unfortunately, we often forget that good soil does not stay good on its …
Written By Desiree U. Angeles, Philippines Growing up, I was a huge fan of Batman. I know it’s probably unusual for a girl to like this character, but I’ve always found the winged hero fascinating because he could defeat villains even though he didn’t have any supernatural powers. Perhaps I loved Batman also because I …
Written By Jesse Schmidt, Canada My growing up years were tough. When my parents got divorced, my brothers and I stayed with my dad, and we had to share a bedroom in a friend’s house for some time. Being small-sized and a bit of a geek, I was frequently picked on physically and verbally. As …
