self

Brian E. Konkol 11-09-2012
Black Friday shopping, Kenishirotie / Shutterstock.com

Black Friday shopping, Kenishirotie / Shutterstock.com

Once there was a crowd of about 2,000 shoppers gathered for the early morning opening of a local Wal-Mart.

It was the morning after Thanksgiving Day in Valley Stream, New York, an occasion commonly known as “Black Friday” throughout the United States.

As the opening hour of operation approached, the crowd grew quickly in size, but it also increased with anxiety and anger, as many had waited throughout the cold and dark night, some as long as eight hours. The masses were more than ready to move into the warmth, brightness, and seasonal buying bliss of their neighborhood Wal-Mart. 

When the store manager finally unlocked the front entrance, the massive and eager crowd erupted with energy and passionately pushed into the store like a tidal wave.  In doing so, through the sheer physical force of mass purchasing power, the swarm of shoppers broke through – and eventually broke down – the Wal-Mart doors. 

Jake Olzen 7-20-2011

After months of good-faith reforms and patience, the drama is back in Egypt's Tahrir Square as protesters are preparing for a potential showdown with the state's military rule. The movement, among other things, is demanding an end to military rule -- a more radical call that reflects both the frustration with the status quo and the hope for a better way.

Two weeks ago, at the "Day of Persistence," Egypt saw its largest resurgence of public protest since former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February. The nation-wide protests show Egyptians camping out in Cairo's Tahrir Square, staging sit-ins and blocking traffic in Alexandria, and threatening to shut down Suez's tunnel access to Sinai. So why are the people confronting -- albeit nonviolently -- an interim government that has promised elections and a new constitution? A glance at the collective demands drafted in Tahrir Square make clear that the movement's demands -- both political and economic -- have not progressed much under the military rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Ernesto Tinajero 4-25-2011
Ah, the voice of Ayn Rand from St. Petersburg, Russia rises again with the opening of a new movie based on her novel, Atlas Shrugged.
Cesar Baldelomar 8-17-2010
The earliest representations of Jesus show him eating and healing. In both instances, those who shared the scenes with Jesus included misfits, outcasts, the infirm, and the impoverished.
Pearl Maria Barros 6-23-2010
While discerning a vocation to Roman Catholic religious life years ago, I had the opportunity to go on retreat with a group of women religious.
Becky Garrison 5-17-2010

I had the recent pleasure of seeing Max McLean's deliciously wicked portrayal of Screwtape in The Screwtape Letters currently playing at the Westside Theater in New York City. By employing some sound and lighting effects, this production gave a contemporary spin on C.S. Lewis' classic tale of a quest to slowly guide a man into hell.

Julie Clawson 4-16-2010
I was filling out an application recently and was asked to write a short statement on my "personal faith pilgrimage." I grew up in the Christian world, and so have had to write out my testimony
Kathy Khang 4-16-2010
I have a problem. My internal filter doesn't always work.
Jennifer Wheeler 4-12-2010
The legal definition of Child Support is "periodic monetary payments by the non-custodial parent for the care of his or her minor child." In our country, non-custodial parents are usually obligat
Ernesto Tinajero 4-02-2010

Hate is easy and the domain of the lazy. This insight came in the darkness of the early morning. I wish I could say that it was due to a Lenten meditation that pierced my own darkness, but alas, it rose as I got up too late to do my study.

Kathy Khang 3-01-2010
I had never noticed them before. I'm sure I would have noticed them if they had been there just a few weeks ago.
Julie Clawson 2-24-2010
I knew I was dreaming when Michelle Obama sat down across from me. I was wearing a formal dress sitting on one of the tall bar stools at our local pub, in the quiet back corner near the dartboard.
Eugene Cho 2-19-2010
Are you giving something up for Lent? What and why?

Kathy Khang 2-12-2010
Right now my head is a bit stuffed up thanks to a cold, but the little voice inside my head usually takes no prisoners.
Nadia Bolz-Weber 2-10-2010

This week my friend Sara reminded me that the really amazing thing about 1 Corinthians 13 is that even hundreds of thousands of schlocky wedding and inspirational posters and bad Christian coffee mugs can't kill it. Paul's hymn to love is perhaps one of the most recognizable texts in the New Testament. And it is really beautiful

Julie Clawson 1-05-2010
The Out of Ur blog recently posted a video of N.T. Wright going off on the dangers of social media.
Eugene Cho 12-28-2009
Have you seen the two videos below produced by Dove?