To be compassionate in this hurting world means it will cost you something.

Joy is a decision, a really brave one, about how you are going to respond to life.

...while God has done his part in creating a world capable of providing what we need, we have not done our part in the stewardship of it, in seeing that it gets to the end of the line, to the poorest and neediest--the children.

There is nothing to be intimidated about - it's just another long run where a few more people show up and they happen to wear numbers.

If God places a child before you, and you are too busy to wield either a positive or negative influence...you just did the later! You communicated that the child doesn't matter and isn't important.

But when adults speak up for the vulnerable and the weak, working and demanding that safety and respect prevail, God's little lambs are protected and nourished. They know they are not abandoned; they are loved. And the world becomes a little more like heaven as a result.

If we nurture the dreams of children, the world will be blessed. If we destroy them, the world is doomed!