To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Economists Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner – famous for their Freakonomics books – wonder if you think you can out-perform a group of British schoolchildren, ages five through nine. First, listen to this story. Then answer four questions: A little girl named Mary goes to the beach with her mother and brother. … Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. How do you know what’s going on inside someone’s chest? Dr. Rene Laennec treated thousands of patients during the Napoleonic era in France, a time when medicine was just beginning to tackle that question. Some doctors tapped on their patients’ chests to determine the proportion of fluids there, not unlike the way brewers rapped… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. What makes the world go round? Vocal artists and astronomers provide different answers. The Stylistics sang that people make the world go round. Soul crooner Deon Jackson and the rock group KISS proclaimed that love is what keeps things spinning. For the cynical, the musical Cabaret hits just the right notes: “Money makes the… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. If your name is Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV, you need a good nickname. For most of his life, the tall, thin Wainwright, a career military officer, was called “Skinny.” He liked it. His greatest honor – being named supreme commander of the Allied troops in the Philippines early in 1942 – was also equivalent… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Author Martha Grace Reece once interviewed a woman who had sat in the front row of her church choir every Sunday for 30 years. “Why do you go to church? What do you get out of it?” Her husband of 35 years had just died slowly and painfully. Horror stories pocked her memories of… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. What do you hope to do before you die? Inspired by the 2007 comedy-drama The Bucket List, starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, as well as a growing mini-industry devoted to generating new and interesting answers to that question, millions of people are taking the time to identify what dreams they hope to… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. By the spring of 1944, everybody knew the Allies were preparing to invade France. D-Day would be the first major step in crushing Hitler’s occupying army, followed by an invasion of the German homeland. The Nazis were ready, however. They had heavily fortified the French coastline. Hitler had also made two assumptions. The… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Standing Where Jesus Stands There once was a florist who had a really bad day. He mixed up two orders. One flower arrangement went to a guy who was opening a new business. The other went to a family that had just lost a loved one. The business owner came into the floral shop… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. It’s that time of year again. The tarantulas are rambling across the deserts of the American Southwest. Brown tarantulas are large, hairy, solitary spiders – about the size of a saucer – that seem perfectly designed to play the starring role in a horror movie. In reality, they are exceedingly gentle. They rarely bite… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. A New Start Bible stories don’t have official names. Even though traditional names have become attached to certain texts over the centuries, there’s still plenty of room for discussion. Many would suggest, for instance, that The Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 should actually be known as The Parable of the… Read more »
