in 1989, in the months leading up to the 40th anniversary of the communist regime in East Germany, a Lutheran pastor in the city of Leipzig began preaching at a peace vigil in the city’s Nicolaikirche.

One of the earliest pictures my brother took was of me back in 1955, a half century ago, dressed in my Hoppalong Cassidy outfit with hat and six shooter and holster.

Many of us experienced being overwhelmed in school by the number of papers we had to write, tests we needed to study for, and books we needed to read.

A common reaction after hearing the story of the first disciples—fishermen who are told to come follow Christ and become fishers of men—is to try to imagine ourselves in a similar situation. There we are on the job, and Jesus walks up and tells us to drop what we’re doing and come follow him. Could we do it?

I used to feel guilty I wasn’t like the first apostles, ready to drop everything and run after Jesus. I know how many attachments I tend to hang onto, even when I think I’m “letting go and letting God.”

It is fashionable for some people to complain about all of the messages that they receive and how busy they are. Usually they bring it on themselves. They have their home phones and work phones and cell phones.

Some of us are natural-born leaders, others followers. Followers often get a bad rap in our entrepreneurial, individualistic culture.

How do you teach your child to listen for the voice of God? This is not an easy question in an age when, moment by moment, our kids are bombarded by messages on TV, radio, the Internet, magazines, billboards, the sides of buses, and even the clothes their friends are wearing.

A nervous mother telephoned the priest just a week before the scheduled baptism of her baby. She had heard that when he baptized babies, he immersed them in the water of the font.

Praise—much more than money—is probably the single most effective human motivator. Sycophantic flattery won’t do. It must be genuine commendation for a job well done or a decision well made.