To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In his book The Greatest War Stories Never Told, Rick Beyer describes the fateful charge of Pickett’s Brigade on July 3, the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg: With tens of thousands watching in awe, these brave men set off beneath the fierce afternoon sun. A mile of farm fields… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here The first fight of the Founding Fathers was about faith. The inaugural session of the Continental Congress – the group that would ultimately call for the drafting of the Declaration of Independence – convened in Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia, on September 6, 1774. Thomas Cushing, a lawyer from Boston, moved that the… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here When America’s ragtag revolutionary army faced one of its darkest moments, George Washington brought out his secret weapon. His eyeglasses. Things had gone unaccountably well for the colonists in their struggle against the British army, the world’s most elite fighting force. By the spring of 1783, treaty negotiations would soon guarantee America’s… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here What if you’re offered a gift that seems too good to be true? In 1835, an eccentric British chemist died and left his entire inheritance to America. By all accounts, James Smithson was a bit odd. He was the illegitimate child of the Duke of Northumberland. He never learned his true birthday. His… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here It’s a colossal work of art – 18 feet long and 12 feet high. John Adams, who is depicted standing heroically dead center, called it the “Shin Painting.” That’s because once it was mounted on the wall of the US Capitol building rotunda, where it remains to this day, the typical… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here A Star Trek character named Gary Mitchell made only one on-screen appearance in the TV series. Sixty years ago, he was featured in an episode titled “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” A one-show storyline may seem brief and humble, but it’s recently blossomed into something momentous. Mitchell, played by actor… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Last week, Mary Sue and I finally got around to having The Talk. Midwesterners know that at some point they need to sit down and have a serious conversation about where they will take shelter in the event of an approaching tornado. My wife and I have lived on our current… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl was gripped by a compelling idea. Was it possible that the indigenous people of South America, centuries before Columbus, had actually sailed across thousands of miles of open water and helped populate the Polynesian islands of the South Pacific? Heyerdahl and five companions decided to see if such a… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Those who follow Jesus, at their best, are like those little pink sampler spoons at Baskin & Robbins. We give people a taste of good things. In his book Habitation of Dragons, author and retreat leader Keith Miller recounts a presentation he gave at a church in another state. Miller had… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Thousands of bright red signs used to dot the sides of American roads. They were ads for Burma-Shave, a shaving cream that debuted in 1925 and proved to be as smooth as any barber shop product. But who wanted to try a shaving cream that sounded as if it came from… Read more »
