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 »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here This is that special time of year when monarch butterflies grace our gardens, not to mention the milkweeds growing alongside farmers’ fields. For a long time, these beautiful, fragile creatures were at the center of one of the great mysteries of science. Every fall, people both east and west of the… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here There are child prodigies. And then there was Blaise Pascal. Born in 1623 in Rouen, France, Pascal was the son of a tax collector. By the time he turned 16, he had written a treatise on projective geometry that is still relevant after four centuries. He followed that up with work… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here For most people, climbing Mt. Everest is a peak experience in more ways than one. Reaching the summit of the 29,032-foot mountain means you can justifiably claim to have stood “on top of the world.” Getting there is also likely to require more stamina, perseverance, courage, and risk-taking than the vast… Read more »