I once spoke to a woman who was struggling to show true empathy for her mother, who was an alcoholic and had given this woman many terrible childhood memories. She felt that there was no way she could care for her now very sick mother - and she wished God could send an angel to come from Heaven and care for her mother for her. We look at angels in the Bible, in particular, in the Book of Daniel. We see God send these heavenly beings to rescue people. We also consider how this woman with the sick mother solved her dilemma of trying to show genuine love for someone she couldn't help but resent.

I once spoke to a young schizophrenic man who talked to me outside, after it had rained. I was about to sit down on a very wet bench when he did something very kind. We look at the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel that has a number of unique parables in it, including the Good Samaritan. We look at the traditional interpretation, and we look at a more theological interpretation. Then we look at the impact that this schizophrenic man had on me.

When I was a professor, I once had a French student accuse me of Xenophobia, of giving her a bad grade simply because she was French. I was quite worried that this could explode into a serious problem, as universities want students to be happy and do not want claims like this making their way into the press. I ended up putting my mother on the phone and letting her talk to this student. The interesting part is that my mother was French. We look at the Book of James. We examine whether it was truly Jesus' kid brother who wrote it, and what it teaches us about dealing with problems, and interacting with people who are suffering.