While things are confusing down here, we can always trust in the hope of heaven.

About an hour northeast of Indianapolis on April 26, 2006, a tractor-trailer drifted across the Interstate 69 median. In its path: ten students and staff in a Taylor University van. The tractor ripped through one side of the van, scattering wallets, purses, and debris across the dark roadway and sending five souls into eternity.

In the accident's aftermath, one survivor was identified as Laura VanRyn, and officials contacted her family as she was airlifted from the site in a comatose state. Over the next several weeks the VanRyn family kept constant and prayerful vigil at her bedside while she struggled out of her coma.

Then came the shattering revelation: the young woman they lovingly watched over did not answer to the name Laura VanRyn. Instead, a battered and broken stranger lay in her place: fellow Taylor student and

The first significant effort in modern times to encourage cooperation among Protestants was the Evangelical alliance. Organized in London in 1846, the Alliance brought together Christian believers from 50 evangelical bodies in England and America. In time branches were established in nine European countries. The Alliance promoted religious liberty and encouraged cooperative activities, but toward the end of the nineteenth century its enthusiasm cooled.

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Evangelical, Evangelical-Alliance, history[/tags]