“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,” taught Jesus, “it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24) Few ideas are as provocative and widely applicable as this one. To live in a fallen world is to live with the reality that...

Many years ago, I was working as a substitute teacher. One of my favorite classes was a junior high special education class. There was a particular young man by the name of Steven in the class. He was 15 years old but looked more like an 8-year-old. Steven was not...