If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Every new "Today" seems more anxious than ever. Do you find more solace in "Yesterday" or "Tomorrow"? Why?
Submitted by Bee Whisperer.

That is a very, very good question. And after thinking for awhile, I have to say I find more solace in Tomorrow. Yesterday always seems to be a day with regrets, wrong choices, and things you could have done better. But Tomorrow is a mystery. Tomorrow we could find ourselves in a better world. Tomorrow we could leave an impact on someone's life. Tomorrow we could meet our true love. Tomorrow never knows.

It seems as if the only constant companion I've had throughout my years as a teenager has been Loneliness. Yes, Loneliness has always been there for me. Sometimes I will piss Loneliness off, and it will leave, but as quickly as it leaves it returns just as fast. And then you look at it, and sigh, and wonder why Loneliness had to be the only constant in your life.

I had best friends. I know what best friends are. But only as a preteen and a kid. And this notion of what a true best friend was, was soon gone. And then you keep waiting for the day. The day where you'll be important in another person's life again. The day where someone will call you up and ask you to hang out with them, or the day where they're feeling blue and you're the person they have to talk to. And while you're waiting you try to find other things to fill the hole. But the older you get, the fear becomes bigger. The fear of being alone. And you can't help but think about it. You can't help but cry sometimes when you're laying in bed on a Saturday night. Your prayer every time always includes the same thing. The worst feeling comes when you're with a group of people, who are best friends and some have a certain individual called Love in their life, the pangs of loneliness are more present than ever. You want to tell them how lucky they are, how grateful they should be, but then they'd probably look at you like you're crazy. You wonder how better your high school years would have been if you would have had a friend who cared for you.

But then you look at yourself and you are happy about the person you are. The person you've become. And you wonder if you'll have to be lonely for the rest of your life to stay that way. Or if maybe, just maybe, there's someone out there who is crazy enough to love you and call you their friend.

Loneliness is a form of pain, and oh the pain can be so great.

My church college group, theTurn (the-turn.org) has recently started an International Justice Mission (or IJM) club, and we held our first meeting today to discuss things we can do to raise awareness and money. What is the IJM you may ask? Well IJM is a non-profit organization that seeks to stop human trafficking in countries across the world. They work with the country's government to free slaves. There are three types of human trafficking: sex, labor, and militant. Young girls are forced into prostitution and young boys are given guns and are trained to be rebels. But IJM seeks to stop such a horrible money-making business. One slave at a time.

• An average of 900,000 people are forced into slavery every year. Men, women, and children. 70% are female, and 50% are children.

I live about an hour north of Atlanta, and Atlanta is said to be the #1 city in America for sex trafficking. Yes, this isn't just in foreign countries. This is happening in our own backyards. And it must be stopped. And we can do it. We can make a difference.

• To find out more please visit: http://www.ijm.org

at the bottom of the hill
lays a cemetery of nature
nothing is alive but the sounds
of crinkling leaves and a buzzing bee
one can only wonder what a bee
would be doing down here
(no flowers, no food)
maybe just a lost soul
like myself...
finding peace among the dead,
yet also experiencing life;
and then i see another bee
and i realize it isn't lost
for when you have that someone
beside you...
you can never be lost
no matter where you are;
and then i hope, and pray,
that someday too
i will be found
at the bottom of the hill.

What could we do to create a world with less violence?

Good question. I think Martin Luther King, Jr., gives a profound answer in his essay "The Power of Non-Violence".

Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any other word. It is the word "maladjusted." Now we all should seek to live a well—adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic and schizophrenic personalities. But there are some things within our social order to which I am proud to be maladjusted and to which I call upon you to be maladjusted. I never intend to adjust myself to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to adjust myself to mob rule. I never intend to adjust myself to the tragic effects of the methods of physical violence and to tragic militarism. I call upon you to be maladjusted to such things. I call upon you to be as maladjusted to such things. I call upon you to be as maladjusted as Amos who in the midst of the injustices of his day cried out in words that echo across the generation, "Let judgment run down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." As maladjusted as Abraham Lincoln who had the vision to see that this nation could not exist half slave and half free. As maladjusted as Jefferson, who in the midst of an age amazingly adjusted to slavery could cry out, "All men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." As maladjusted as Jesus of Nazareth who dreamed a dream of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. God grant that we will be so maladjusted that we will be able to go out and change our world and our civilization. And then we will be able to move from the bleak and desolate midnight of man’s inhumanity to man to the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice.

Turn off your mind, relax
and float down stream
It is not dying
It is not dying

Lay down all thought
Surrender to the void
It is shining
It is shining

That you may see
The meaning of within
It is being
It is being

That love is all
And love is everyone
It is knowing
It is knowing

That ignorance and hate
May mourn the dead
It is believing
It is believing

But listen to the
color of your dreams
It is not living
It is not living

Or play the game
existence to the end
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning