A New Year Paradigm: Simon Peter

"2010 offers us a chance to shed our old skin, to look at others and ourselves with clearer lenses. We can do no better in this regard than to return to the rich example the New Testament gives us in the disciples, particularly Peter."

Click here for more on lessons from Simon Peter.

How angry young man turned his life around

"For better and worse, Sam Vega couldn't stop looking back.

Let down by a mother with destructive habits, a father he never knew and the grandmother who moved him to Chicago, Vega struck out on his own at age 18.

But bitter memories of neglect combined with concern for his four siblings kept him from moving on. His failure to forgive undercut his will to succeed, as did a fear that he was echoing the mistakes of his elders by walking away."

Click here for more on this amazing young man.

Dickens vs. Darwin: A Question of Worldview

"Two of the most famous books in the Western canon turned 150 years old in 2009—On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

But these anniversaries were celebrated in vastly different ways. While Darwin’s book was honored around the globe with films and websites and much more, relatively few people took notice that Dickens’s book had reached the same milestone."

Click here for more of Chuck Colson's commentary.

Blind woman learning to be a chef

"A kitchen is a spiritual place for Laura Martinez, a space that arouses her senses, excites her imagination. It's not where she imagined herself finding such satisfaction. When she was too young to understand that she was blind, she dreamed of being a surgeon. She grew up and out of such fantasies and studied briefly to be a psychologist.

But the kitchen beckoned. It lured her away from her family in Moline, Ill., to the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary program at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago."

For more on this amazing woman's experiences, click here.

Transit Archeology: Tour of abandoned subway network offers a glimpse of how the T was built

"Boston’s bars have poured their last drinks. Stragglers are stumbling home. But beneath the modern metropolis, in the bowels of the city, a group of six men wanders abandoned tunnels with heavy coats and flashlights, dodging the occasional rodent, to uncover the lost relics of America’s first subway system."

Click here for a look at Boston's transit past.

Greater Love

"At Christmastime, we’re reminded that our God is the God of great reversals. As we set out humble nativity scenes, we may forget how unthinkable it is that the King of Kings lowered himself not just to be born in human flesh, but in a lowly stable amidst the braying of animals and the smell of manure."

Click here for more on Mark Earley's commentary.

How not to overdo it during the holidays

"Tis the season of temptation -- food temptation, that is. If your office is anything like ours, you've been inundated by sweets galore. At our holiday potluck breakfast, my dear coworkers actually had the nerve to bring super-rich brownies, sugary danishes and the most decadent chocolate cake I've ever tasted. Sigh."

For a healthy dose of good advice, click here.