To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Some of the most celebrated names in spiritual history are martyrs – men and women who surrendered their lives instead of surrendering their faith. Church tradition suggests that 11 of the original 12 apostles met violent ends. Courageous martyrs also figure prominently in the stories of Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. In the Middle… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In 1571, Friar Luis de Leon, a theologian and professor, was brought before the Spanish Inquisition. He was charged with moral corruption and sentenced to prison, where he spent the next four years. His crime? He had dared to translate the Old Testament book of Song of Songs into Spanish. De Leon, in other… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here So how’s your algebra these days? Most of us grow up thinking there’s only one equation that really matters: E = 0. An event of some kind happens, and that leads directly to a particular outcome. My parents fail to connect with me emotionally, and the outcome is that I am crippled with insecurity. Someone… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here According to the Hebrew Scriptures, Moses was chosen by God to lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land. Historians estimate that the Israelites, journeying at a moderate rate of speed, could have reached their destination in about 22 days. The actual trip, known as the Exodus,… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Israel is a very small nation. All told it is just 10,175 square miles. If it’s hard to make sense of that number, think of it this way: Almost seven Israels could fit into the state of Missouri. Despite its small size, Israel has almost certainly had a greater impact on world history than… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Visitors to the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California, have noticed something mysterious over the past 100 years. Rocks have been “racing” along the Racetrack. A playa is a dry lakebed. Its hard dry surface can be as unyielding as asphalt. The strange reality is that rocks of all shapes and sizes – some of… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Automation isn’t just the wave of the future. It’s already here. Extraordinary machines assemble our pickup trucks, sweep our floors, and will soon be driving us around in autonomous vehicles. Now there’s even a robotic, self-cleaning kitty litter box. As someone who shares life with six cats (four in the barn, two in… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here What is God’s greatest miracle? Is it the parting of the Red Sea? Feeding thousands of hungry people with a few loaves and fish? Raising Jesus from the dead? Interestingly, we can make the case that the most compelling of all God’s miracles is the miracle of restraint. Why doesn’t… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Just before the 1975 fall semester kicked off at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, the dean was literally on his knees. William Kerr was praying that Andrew Lincoln, a distinguished British Bible Scholar, could somehow be granted a visa to come teach at GCTS. A mountain of red tape stood in the way. All of a… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Here’s a riddle: Fifteen turtles are sunning themselves on an old log. Six of them decide to jump into the water. So how many turtles are still sunning themselves on the log? That’s easy. The correct answer is fifteen. Wait: Didn’t we say that six of them decided to jump into the water? We did. But as leadership gurus Barry… Read more »
