To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Skellig Michael is a special place. For centuries this tiny crag of an island about 7 miles southwest of Ireland was known chiefly as the reclusive home of thousands of seabirds and a handful of monks. In December 2015 it became known the world over as that incredibly strange and beautiful… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In 1942, a foreign army invaded and occupied American soil for the first time since the War of 1812. Japanese troops captured the Aleutian islands of Attu and Kiska, just off the coast of Alaska. An Allied force of some 35,000 Americans and Canadians were given the assignment of taking them… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here No one has ever written in the English language as marvelously as William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s brilliance is reflected in the fact that most of us quote him every week, but don’t even realize it. Have you ever felt footloose and fancy free? Been left high and dry?Passed a test that was a… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here A number of years ago a member of my church was felled by a heart attack. Lying comatose for days in the hospital ICU, he hovered between life and death. There was no certainty of recovery. But he did recover. He regained his strength, was restored to his family, and came… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here There are two kinds of trapeze artists: flyers and catchers. Flyers get most of the love. They make amazing leaps. They do somersaults in mid-air. But as devotional writer Henri Nouwen pointed out, the real heroes are the catchers. In his book Our Greatest Gift: A Meditation on Dying and Caring, Nouwen writes: … Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here People have been baking bread for thousands of years. But it sure hasn’t looked, felt, or tasted like Wonder Bread, the loaf that so many Americans grew up eating. About 500 years ago, European bread-making began to reflect class distinctions. Peasants and laborers ate dark, coarse bread. High class people (that is, “the… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here People resist change. Even when it comes to the simplest things. In 1990, Crayola decided to retire eight colors from its iconic box of 64 crayons. In their place, the world’s largest crayon manufacturer introduced eight new vibrant colors, including Royal Purple, Jungle Green, and Hot Pink. This seemed to be… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here “Hi, I’m 11 and I want a record deal. Call me.” You have to say this about Taylor Swift: She has never lacked confidence. As a preteen hoping to break into the country music scene, she darted in and out of Nashville record companies while her mother and brother waited in… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Mark Twain was on top of the world. In 1861 he officially became a riverboat captain on the Mississippi. Piloting a steamboat combined adventure, danger, and the sheer romance of chugging up and down the longest river in North America. It was lucrative, too. Historians estimate that riverboat captains were the third… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here The United States Flag Code can be reduced to a single sentence: You’re doing it wrong. It’s a good bet that most of your fellow citizens, even on America’s 248th birthday, aren’t actually aware that such a code exists. Specifically, it’s Chapter 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code,… Read more »
