To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In 1982, Chuck Colson brought a team of Prison Fellowship workers to the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. There they led a worship service for the inmates, including a number of offenders on Death Row. Colson spoke movingly of God’s gifts of hope, healing, and forgiveness, available to everyone. Then… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Sports attendance, sports betting, and sports talk represent one of the most dominant realities on the American scene. It’s all sports all the time. Right? To quote a popular sports adage, “Numbers never lie.” Let’s add together the most recent regular season total attendance figures of America’s four major professional sports… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here My mom, who stepped into the next world seven years ago at the age of 92, was somewhat eccentric. She had a lifelong love affair with chocolate and All Things Sugary. She appreciated bright colors, goofy little slogans, pictures of cats wearing tuxedos, and anything that happened to depict a moose…. Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here His real name was Jean-François Gravelet. But shortly after he launched his career in the 1840s as Europe’s greatest “funambulist” or tightrope walker, the Frenchman began calling himself Charles Blondin. And it wasn’t long before that had morphed into Blondin the Great. He was a fairly ordinary-looking fellow – just five-foot five inches… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here For multitudes of individuals and organizations, the holidays have become the season of compassion. But how do we help without hurting? That question has consumed Robert Lupton, author of the bestseller Toxic Charity, for more than 50 years. In his work as a community redeveloper in Atlanta, Lupton began to notice… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Public speaking freaks a lot of people out. Jerry Seinfeld famously noted, “According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here When author and sociologist Tony Campolo was little, walking to school by himself was not a wise option. Who knew what might happen to a young boy? Tony’s mother paid a neighbor girl, Harriet, five cents a day to make sure he arrived and returned safely. This wounded his pride. Why… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here If you visit the website of Occidental Petroleum (now known as Oxy), there’s no mention of Armand Hammer in the official history of the corporation. Do a search for his name and you’ll get, “Nothing here matches your search.” That’s remarkable, considering the fact Hammer was the CEO of Occidental for… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here What happens when children talk to God? If the missives found in Children’s Letters to God (Workman Publishing, 1966) are any indication, what we get is a good deal more honesty that we generally hear in prayers offered by adults. Cartoonist and playwright Stuart E. “Stoo” Hample collaborated with Eric Marshall… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here The Hasbro toy company hoped to make a new product splash at the 1964 New York Toy Fair. What they ended up doing was introducing an entirely new kind of toy. It was a doll for boys – a human form, fully 12 inches tall, that could bend at every joint… Read more »
