Personal Change

Adopt-a-Bear Program Helps Children Face Difficult Times

batch — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:05:05 -0600

The judges of Miami-Dade county developed an organization that would provide teddy bears to children who were faced with real life stories of abuse.

Halie's Rainbow

jbloustein — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:44:50 -0600

Brazil, Indiana is a close-knit community, and so is the local high school’s marching band, the Northview Marching Knights, eight-time state champions.

Every Thursday, after practice, the staff gathers for dinner at the home of Bob and Ruth Anne Medworth, director of the band and color guard, respectively.

The Medworths live only a mile from the high school, so everyone shows up minutes after practice lets out.

A Visitor's Christmas

jbloustein — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:26:39 -0600

Snow fell and lights twinkled in the trees of our old Chicago neighborhood.

It was two days before Christmas and we were coming home—sort of. This was where we had lived before recently moving to Des Moines for my husband John’s new job.

A War Within

mcherkezian — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 11:00:34 -0600

I strode into the lieutenant colonel’s office thinking I felt better about myself than I had in a long time. Yes, I thought, this is what I was meant to do.

I was a military chaplain, reporting to the head of pastoral care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

I was in the midst of helping a family whose son, wounded in Iraq, had died after surgery. I’d stood by the soldier’s bedside then worked feverishly to get his parents and brother to Walter Reed. They were due to arrive in a few hours.

Worth the Weight

jbloustein — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:00:35 -0600

I took a deep breath and pushed the dumbbells up from my chest. My arms shook uncontrollably and I felt like I’d break in two.

I signed up for this, I reminded myself, when I became a contestant on The Biggest Loser—four months away from my family, suffering through the most intense workouts and dieting I’d ever done, competing with 17 others to lose the most weight.

The Healing

jbloustein — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:18:57 -0500

One phone call.

No doubt you’ve heard those overnight success stories—the actor getting the breakthrough part, the struggling musician whose song everyone is suddenly talking about.

The book I’ve written, The Shack, has proved to be hugely successful in ways that I couldn’t possibly have imagined.

But the phone call that got it all started was something that threw my ordered world—what I desperately wanted people to believe was ordered—into pain and chaos long before I ever put pen to paper.

The Dog Next Door

admin — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 09:32:55 -0600

When I was about 13 years old back home in Indiana, Pennsylvania, I had a dog named Bounce.

He was just a street dog of indeterminate parentage who had followed me home from school one day. Kind of Airdale-ish, but of an orange color, Bounce became my close companion. He'd frolic alongside me when I'd go into the woods to hunt arrowheads and snore at my feet when I'd build a model airplane. I loved that dog.

Keep Your Vision Alive

jbloustein — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:54:41 -0500

90% of the game is half mental. —Yogi Berra

The Makeover

jbloustein — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:12:20 -0500

Go-getter.

I could tell at first glance that was the word to describe the new employee. The way she strode into the office that first day in her red power suit said it all. I peered over to watch her set up her desk. A framed photo of a friendly looking young man went front and center.

I hope I won’t have too much to do with her, I thought, turning back to my own work. And that was all that decorated my desk—work.

Torii Hunter Beats the Odds

admin — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:25:00 -0500

The first time Torii Hunter saw his father smoke crack cocaine, he was seven years old. He didn't understand what his dad was doing.

But that episode marked the beginning of a lifelong struggle for Hunter, a struggle of coping with the heartache of knowing that the father he loves is a drug addict. And a struggle of doing everything he could to get his father to give up drugs, only to fail time after time.