To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In 1870, life for Horatio Spafford and his family seemed to be splendid. Spafford was a senior partner in a large and thriving Chicago law firm. He poured his assets into Chicago real estate. He enjoyed a friendship with the evangelist Dwight L. Moody. Within a few months, however, he and his… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here It’s amazing how many interesting historical events have been impacted by the flip of a coin. In 1845, Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove decided that a coin flip – actually, the best two out of three – should determine who got to name their new settlement in Oregon. Pettygrove won. “Portland!”… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here For English soccer fans, this week has been déjà vu all over again. The dreams that their beloved “Three Lions” team might finally bring home the nation’s second World Cup were dashed two days ago in Atlanta. And not just by any opponent. The English lads were crushed by Argentina – that… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here It was called America’s Great Calamity. Before 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the catastrophic hurricane at Galveston, Texas in 1900, nothing seemed so horrible as the Johnstown Flood. On May 31, 1889, an earthen dam high in the Allegheny Mountains of western Pennsylvania gave way, sending most of Lake Conemaugh, a three-mile-long… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here So, whatever happened to the ark of the covenant? That’s easy. If you saw the first of the Indiana Jones movies back in 1981, you know that it is securely tucked away in some back corner of a vast, unidentified warehouse. The actual story is more interesting. And a lot more… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here A melted candy bar revolutionized your kitchen. At the Raytheon Corporation in 1945, during the final year of World War II, Dr. Percy Spencer was tasked with improving radar technology. He was working with magnetrons – vacuum tubes that generated powerful microwave radiation. One day, while standing near a magnetron, Spencer… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In many generations, being a teenager has been tough. It’s just possible that the present moment in American cultural history might be the toughest of all. According to a recent report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 13% of high school-age girls have attempted to take their own… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Martin Frobisher couldn’t believe his luck. He was already celebrated as one of England’s most daring and accomplished sailors. He had helped vanquish the Spanish Armada that had tried to invade England in 1588. In the service of Queen Elizabeth I, he had searched for the Northwest Passage, that mystical pathway… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Imagine that every time you drive your car a quarter of a mile you have to rebuild its engine. That’s the challenge of managing a Top Fuel dragster, those needle-nosed top-of-the-line acceleration machines. Top Fuel dragsters aren’t built in dusty garages by tinkerers. They are birthed by engineers and skilled technicians… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In 1885, Tsar Alexander III placed an order for an Easter gift for his wife. It wasn’t just any Easter gift. The leader of Russia’s royal family asked the master jeweler Peter Carl Faberge to create something special. Something fit for an empress. The result was a white enamel Easter egg,… Read more »
