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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. It’s no surprise that author and pastor Tim Keller, who spent decades leading a congregation in Manhattan, often heard the question, “Does God really exist?” But in his conversations with New Yorkers he heard another question even more frequently: “If God is a God of love, why can’t he just forgive everybody?” The Christian… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Last summer, the world of entertainment lost a pioneer. Nichelle Nichols, who died in July at the age of 89, was one of the original cast members of NBC’s Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry’s prime time outer space adventure series. What amazed viewers were the officers on the bridge of the starship Enterprise. Aside from… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. For the price of a $2 ticket, you can indulge in the ultimate financial fantasy. Tonight’s Mega Millions jackpot drawing is expected to exceed $1.35 billion, the second-largest prize ever. After taxes, a solo winner (if he or she requests the lump sum payout) would somehow have to figure out how to spend… Read more »