By JIM NICHOLS I suspect I am not alone in being confused about some topics. Some are personal, but others are larger and, frankly, global. Perhaps if I wrestle with one of them in writing, some clarity may come. Maybe you can offer some aid. I suspect my naiveté on the problem will be obvious. Let me present my confusion

By JIM NICHOLS Two of them were sisters; the third was clearly a friend. All were five or six years old and were in front of me during a recent worship service. They were cute the way little girls can be cute; their long hair was tied up with colorful bows or ribbons and they each had on a pretty

By JIM NICHOLS The four males were clearly trying to impress one another—or at least three of them were. “I like to play baseball,” said one. “It has such a long history, and everyone plays it at some time in their life. Developing the skills and strength to ‘hit a round ball with a round bat and hit it squarely’

By JIM NICHOLS The question jumped out of the page to me: “How did faith and medical science become, for some people, mutually exclusive?” The question should be broadened to ask how, for some people, did faith and science itself become mutually exclusive, even antagonistic? We could point back to Darwin as a possible instigator. People of many faiths have

By JIM NICHOLS The two sisters had spent their whole short lives wading through the legal system. Their biological parents were dysfunctional, so consumed with their own concerns that the girls had little care or guidance. The child protection system was cumbersome but helpful enough to keep the children from obvious danger, but it involved a succession of foster homes. 

By JIM NICHOLS One of my most trusted mentors taught me that one should never begin a presentation with an apology or explanation. He had good reasons for that suggestion, and it was good counsel, but I am going to break that rule right now. As you read what follows, please remember that my primary identification is as a child

By JIM NICHOLS One of the most well-known pieces of the Bible is the set of parables of Jesus. Concentrated in certain areas of scripture but also sprinkled at random elsewhere, they contain lessons that are both profound and precise. That is not to say they are necessarily easy to understand. We generally suggest that they are stories using a

By JIM NICHOLS His given name was Leroy, although everyone called him Roy (except for his children and grandchildren).  Roy was a bus driver eventually, although he worked his way through other jobs. One of his early positions was as a door-to-door salesperson for the Fuller Brush Company. That sentence sets the period for his life and this story. Roy