An inspirational Christian magazine serving the Midlands of South Carolina and beyond.
I’m not sure how my mother went from being out-of-touch to being the wisest woman on the planet, but I remember my dawning awareness of her greatness. The first inkling of her buried wisdom came on the day my husband and I moved into our first home. Mom came to help me unpack, and I […]
“I have no desire to collect children,” Esther Dennis says of her future as a foster mother. But since the birth of their biological daughter, Millie, Dan and Esther Dennis of Columbia have fostered nine children ranging from three days old to three years old, children who’ve stayed from one night to two years. Their […]
Kim Williams retired 11 years ago from the University of South Carolina as the winningest volleyball coach in the school’s history. If you ask Williams what she’d like to be known for today, however, she’ll give you an answer that has nothing to do with volleyball scores and everything to do with serving God, especially […]
Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said, “The soul is healed by being with children.” I think Jesus agrees. I’ve always been touched by the squabble between Jesus and his disciples over the children. Apparently mothers haven’t changed much over the millennia. The moms of Jesus’ time were a good judge of character, and many of them […]
An old preacher line states an uncomfortable truth in a humorous way. At the end of the Easter service, the preacher says to the congregation, “Let me wish you a Merry Christmas, since I won’t see many of you again until then.” Christmas and Easter are the bookends of what many people think of as […]
When the theological clouds part, and I finally understand something that has plagued me for years, it’s a good day. Last Sunday was a good day. My pastor, who is also my husband, was warming up for his sermon. Like a batter in the batter’s box, he was tossing a few spiritual pitches to his […]
The Bible contains more than 600 prayers. The word “pray” appears hundreds or thousands of times, depending on which version you read. How to pray, what to pray, and when to pray are the themes of countless books in Christian bookstores. And God tells us in Thessalonians 5:17 to “pray without ceasing.” History records that our country […]
Last month I shared four mama mantras (things I say on repeat mode) to develop lasting relationships with my boys. Today I’d like to share four more sayings designed to train and teach them to be strong, direct, godly men who stand up and face life with confidence. I pray they’ll help you as you […]
The phone rang in the little house at 1405 Gregg Street in downtown Columbia. Hank Chardos prayed as he reached for the phone and an opportunity to change a life. Maybe even save a life. “Hello. This is Birthright of Columbia. How can I help you?” A young female almost whispered into the phone. “What […]
Some days the spiritual darkness in our world seems blacker than ever. Political unrest. Rising crime rates. Moral and societal decline. And the ever growing number of aborted babies. What kind of a society is it that kills its most vulnerable citizens? My office is one building away from the Planned Parenthood clinic in Middleburg […]