1. Please always feel free to conclude your answers with a brief Gospel presentation. It might be helpful to have a standard conclusion for all your responses. For example, one of our writers, Larry, puts the following: "The most important thing is that you believe in God, and that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross for your sins, and on the third day He rose from the dead. If you confess this with your mouth and believe this in your heart, you will be saved and you will have your place in Heaven with Jesus. Amen! John . . .

Unfortunately the joy many of us experience during the holiday season also brings an increase in depression and thoughts of suicide for many. In case you receive a question that hints at suicidal ideation or have friends or family members talking about suicide, we thought we'd give you some tips. It can be nerve-wracking to receive a question that mentions suicide, especially if you've not been trained in suicide prevention. But don't freak yourself out about it. Recognize that this person's life is in God's hands. Seek the guidance of the Holy . . .

Another of our writers, Stephen Pugh, has kindly shared his research on grace. Be blessed as you contemplate God's goodness! GraceThere are two Greek words associated with this word, charis and euprepeia.The first word ‘charis’ is used in a number of ways. It can mean a thing that gives pleasure, delight, or causes favourable regard; it is applied to beauty, or gracefulness of person, or speech. It can also mean the friendliness that leads to acts of kindness, graciousness, loving-kindness, and goodwill generally. However the word ‘charis’ . . .

One of our writers, Bill Stowe, recently shared some helpful working definitions of common biblical terms and was kind enough to make them a resource available for us all. Working definitions of some Bible words (put together from a variety of sources through the years). Wisdom:  skill for living. Grace:  Audrey (my wife of 37+ years -- and now with the Lord since November 23, 1987) found an interesting and helpful definition of grace in an article by D. G. Kehl entitled "Where Has the Charisma Gone?" in the August 30, 1974 issue of Christianity . . .

Ed Chait asked a great question: What kinds of things can we do to make our answers more personable? Here's what some of you said ... Ed, what I do is speak while I write. That way, I write in my normal voice. When I don't do that, I tend to sound more formal and less personable. – Ed Romero I try to adapt my tone, vocabulary, and such to the person. The closer the response is to the way they would answer, if they could, the better, but that's a lot easier in person than in writing. I try to add touches of language, or references to . . .