Dear Friend,

How would you like to spend 2 years making phone calls to people who aren't home? Sound absurd? According to one-time management study, that's how much time the average person spends trying to return calls to people who never seem to be in. Not only that, we spend 6 months waiting for the traffic light to turn green, and another 8 months reading junk mail.

Dear Friend,

Here is a little simple meditation. It is about "Taters."

Some people are very bossy and like to tell others what to do, but don’t want to soil their own hands. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians. They are called "Dick Taters" .

Some people never seem motivated to participate, but are just content to watch while others do the work. They are called "Speck Taters".

A grandparent’s role in the lives of their grandchildren can often be confusing: How and when do you take a role of instructing and guiding your grandchildren while respecting the role their parents are playing? What kind of wisdom do you impart that will be effective in their formation as responsible, faith-filled adults?

Dear Friend,

In his book The Pressure’s Off, psychologist Larry Crabb tells this story from his childhood.

"One Saturday afternoon, I decided I was a big boy and could use the bathroom without anyone’s help. So I climbed the stairs, closed and locked the door behind me, and for the next few minutes felt very self-sufficient.

Dear Friend,

During World War II, Hitler commanded all religious groups to unite so that he could control them. Among the Brethren assemblies, half complied and half refused. Those who went along with the order had a much easier time. Those who did not, faced harsh persecution. In almost every family of those who resisted, someone died in a concentration camp.

Dear Friend,

A man named Peter inherited a huge land grant, but the will provided that he could choose land in either Chile or Brazil. He chose Brazil. Unhappily, if he had chosen Chile, he would have received his inheritance in land on which they had recently discovered uranium, gold, and silver. But he chose Brazil.

When he arrived in Brazil he had to choose between receiving his inheritance in a coffee plantation or land with Brazil nut trees.

Dear Friend,

There was once a man who was bitten by a dog, which was later discovered to be rabid. The man was rushed to the hospital where tests revealed that he had, in fact, contracted rabies. At the time, medical science had no cure for this disease and so his doctor faced the difficult task of informing him that his condition was incurable and terminal.

Dear Friend,

In the twentieth century Will Rogers was known for his laughter, but he also knew how to weep. One day he was entertaining at the Milton H. Berry Institute in Los Angeles, a hospital that specialized in rehabilitating polio victims and people with broken backs and other extreme physical handicaps. Of course, Rogers had everybody laughing, even patients in really bad condition; but then he suddenly left the platform and went to the rest room.

Ciao! Meet Carlo, an Italian teenage techie who loved coding, video games, and animals, and who lived a life that put him on the highway to heaven! Meet the faith-filled teenager set to become the first millennial saint in this fascinating and visually-engaging biography for ages 8-11.

Includes fun and informative sidebars detailing historical, cultural, and religious terms, as well as information on the canonization process.