The question isn’t really nature vs. nurture. Always, whether in poverty or wealth, in ease or hardship, each human being has the great privilege and responsibility of making his own choices along life’s path. It is a disgrace to pretend that we are the malleable creations of circumstance alone, or the random result of genes.

After having lost five consecutive games to opposing teams, with the last one a dreadful 0–28 loss, our son’s coach finally found a brilliant new strategy to help his team recover their self-esteem.

Everyone has a story. You just need to find it.

We are all startlingly similar, and all surprisingly different. The annoying person in the elevator next to you on his phone probably has more in common with you than you’d like to admit.

A lot of writer entrepreneur handbooks or articles will tell you that, in order to be successful, you must find a niche. Truth is, though, it doesn’t really matter what you write about; it matters who you are. Your followers and email subscribers will want to read your work — not because you stick to one topic, but because they appreciate how you can write about any topic.

Look for a church where grace is robust and integral to every sermon, where the cross is not seen as a one-time mention, but as central to the thinking and exposition every Sunday. If the preaching is like this, you can hope that the people will be the same, and it is this combination of grace from the pulpit and grace in practice that makes a church, no matter its size.

Holiness is sometimes imagined as drifting around in cloud-like robes, holding one’s head carefully so as not to let one’s halo slip. In this condition, one must avoid walking down alleys and into rundown cafés to ensure that no speck of sin may stain one’s lily-white garments. In essence, holiness is being set apart from the world, which is the same thing as not being in the world, you know.