Albert Einstein is reported to have said, “Sometimes, the thinking that has got us so far is inadequate to handle the problems of the place our thinking has got us to!” That might be why Jesus spoke in parables.

God’s word is efficacious, as the prophet Isaiah tells us. When God speaks, things happen. “Let there be light”—and there is light.

At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories.

I planted my first-ever garden. I have no idea what I’m doing. I searched online for “what plants grow like crazy.”

The elderly woman down the block from us spends as much time as she can in her garden—and it shows. She can get plants to grow that none of her neighbors can. “I spend a lot of my time preparing the soil,” she says.

Coming-of-age stories are as old as literature itself. From Odysseus to Saint Augustine, Tom Jones to Jane Eyre, Pip to Huck Finn, Holden Caufield to Scout Finch, Celie to Harry Potter. This classic genre captures the struggles, turmoil, and adventures young people experience as they mature and develop as human beings.

Every once in a while it is good for city folks to take a long drive into the country and see the row after row, acre after acre of crops growing. It helps them to realize what the farmers know, that it is hard work to raise the food we take for granted.

My sisters and brothers, we pray to be the good soil that hears God's word and lets it bear fruit in our lives.

Speak the truth in a million voices. It is silence that kills.