BreakPoint Columns

Strategies for a Tilted World

Tue, 22 May 2012 17:22:43 EDT

A man once ordained priest in Rome writes on CNN's Belief Blog of "knee-jerk" Christianity, too bigoted and irrational to recognize our own Scripture's approval of homosexuality. An influential advocate against bullying in schools drives dozens of students from the room, some of them in tears, calling out obscenities on the Bible's moral backwardness about slavery and sexuality.

Our Eternal Reprise: Why Musicals Are a Picture of Our Never-Ending Destiny

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:21:31 EDT

Confession: I love musicals. Truly, I do. Love is not too strong a word to use in expressing my emotional response to the trifceta of acting, singing, and dancing. I love the spontaneous song-bursts. I love the choreographed numbers. Mostly though, I love the way that suddenly singing and dancing through life, no matter the circumstances, is so normal for the characters.

Why'd They Go and Do That?

Fri, 11 May 2012 21:43:11 EDT

In the movie Big Jake (1971), John Wayne plays Jacob McCandles, a storied gunman who happens upon a lynching. Unnoticed by the mob, McCandles reaches for his rifle, draws a bead on the action, pauses, then lowers his rifle.

When You Absolutely, Positively Have to Have It Five Minutes Ago: Working with Chuck Colson

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:37:01 EDT

"Anne! It's Chuck! How ya doin'?" That staccato voice was familiar from the nearly 18 years I'd worked at Prison Fellowship Ministries as a writer for a radio program called BreakPoint. It was my boss, the one-time Watergate felon who founded Prison Fellowship Ministries after getting out of prison himself. I grabbed a pen and pad of paper to scribble notes on Chuck's latest idea for his daily four-minute BreakPoint.

'I Wish You'd Never Been Born'

Thu, 03 May 2012 14:42:31 EDT

In Frank Capra's classic 1946 film, It's a Wonderful Life, when a desperate and depressed George Bailey says, "I wish I'd never been born," Clarence, his guardian angel, gives an unremarkable reply: "You mustn't talk like that." It was unremarkable because at this point in American history, there was still a stigma attached to suicide. Yet today that stigma has lessened, as the so-called "death with dignity" movement has gathered momentum.

'One Thousand Gifts': Gratitude, Joy, and the Miracle

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:37:42 EDT

Count your blessings, name them one by one Count your blessings, see what God hath done!Count your blessings, name them one by oneAnd it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Johnson Oatman, Jr., 1897 In the course of about a month, three people told me about One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Told me how good it was. How I really should read it. Then a fourth friend gave it to me. Every time I smiled politely, said, "Oh, that sounds goood," and cringed inside.