Monthly Archives: January 2023

Pickled

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Daniel E. Sickles (1819-1914) considered himself one tough guy. As a New York City politician in the 1850s he was involved in a number of public scandals. When he learned that his young bride was having an affair with Philip Barton Key II (the son of Francis Scott Key, who had penned the words… Read more »

The Yips

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Fans of professional tennis let out a collective cheer two days ago.  On the other side of the world, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus won the Australian Open women’s singles championship, the first Grand Slam of her stellar career. It also represented a victory over “the yips,” one of the most debilitating frailties in the… Read more »

The First and the Last

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Powerful leaders tend to admire other powerful leaders. In an interview with the New Yorker a few years ago, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook (now known as Meta), and one of the richest men in the world, acknowledged his fascination with one of history’s most famous dictators.  The Silicon… Read more »

Trading Up

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. What could you get if you started with a bobby pin and kept “trading up” for items of greater value? Demi Skipper, a 28-year-old store manager who was renting a house near San Francisco, dreamed that she and her husband might one day own a home of their own.  In May 2020 she… Read more »

Getting Down to Business

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Say a prayer and do your job.  Those were the two things on Captain David Cronin’s mind as he tried to steer a seriously damaged Boeing 747 toward an emergency landing.  On February 24, 1989, United Airlines Flight 811 departed Honolulu on its way to New Zealand.  When the jumbo jet… Read more »

The Wilhelm Scream

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. You’ve heard the Wilhelm Scream before.  You probably just didn’t know it had an actual name and history.  The Wilhelm Scream was recorded in a studio more than 70 years ago by voice actor Sheb Wooley, who’s best known for his novelty song The Purple People Eater back in 1958.  Wooley was asked to… Read more »

From Yes-But to Yes-And

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. What comes to mind when you picture turning toward God?  Psychologist Patrick Carnes suggests it all comes down to what kind of God we think we’re actually dealing with.  There are four basic options. First, we may have in mind a Non-Existent God.  In other words, no God at all.  We… Read more »

Coyote Country

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. The howl of the coyote is America’s “original national anthem.” That’s the conclusion of author and history professor Dan Flores in his book Coyote America, an examination of the life and times of the creature that almost certainly qualifies as our nation’s most hated animal. Coyotes have roamed North America for more than a… Read more »

Hope for a Culture of Contempt

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Noted marriage therapist John Gottman, who has observed thousands of couples in his Love Lab at the University of Washington, claims he can predict with 94% accuracy which relationships are headed for divorce. What’s the number one predictor?  Gottman votes for contempt. Contempt is anger mingled with disgust – the settled conviction of someone… Read more »

Most High

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. The Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is going to be one tall building. Originally scheduled for completion just before the pandemic, it will stand 3,280 feet.  That’s one kilometer, or sixth tenths of a mile high.  Guests will be able to stay at the Four Seasons Hotel, the world’s highest elevated lodging,… Read more »