One of my all time favorite bands is Relient K, a Christian punk-pop band that got its start in the late 90s and is still around today. My favorite song of theirs, "Be My Escape" (released in 2004), is about how God wants to set us free when we feel trapped, often in prisons of our own making. There's a line in the second verse that has shaped my faith more than almost any other song I know. And this life sentence that I'm serving I admit that I'm every bit deserving But the

The Parable of the Man Who Fell Among Robbers, better known as the Good Samaritan, is one of the all-time great stories. When rabbis and Bible scholars speak about "turning the diamond," this is one story we can turn over and over, seeing something new from every angle. That's why it has stood the test of time and still changes hearts and minds today. So let's look at this story from a few different angles. We can learn about receiving help from a would-be villain, about seei

Something strange happens in our brains when we make a purchase. The pleasure chemical dopamine spikes whenever we're on the hunt. Whether you're browsing Amazon or sifting through used records at the thrift store, we get a rush, a sensation of excitement. It's the thrill of the search, left over from our hunter-gatherer days. Then, once we have found what we're looking for, those pleasure chemicals kick into overdrive. Our heart rates increase. We feel a sense of euphoria. T

Paul is writing to a church in the middle of the Roman Empire, and the Roman Empire had very strong opinions about how a household should run. At the top sat the paterfamilias, the father of the household. His word was law. Husbands held full authority over their wives, who were essentially viewed as property. Fathers decided where their children went to school, who they would marry, and even, in a chilling practice common across the empire, whether a newborn infant would be