To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Life is full of close calls. On February 9, 1709, a couple named Samuel and Susanna tucked their children into bed in their modest cottage in Epworth, England. Samuel was an Anglican priest known for his energetic preaching. Susannah, who had brought 19 children into the world (nine of whom lived beyond infancy), was… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here These days, there are almost no limitations in most states concerning the strength and variety of fireworks that individuals can buy. When our kids were young, however, the only way Hoosiers could get their hands on seriously cool rockets was at fireworks outlets in other states. During the course of a family trip, I… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here When things go wrong and life falls apart, it’s not unusual for people to want to fire God. It would be like axing an incompetent personal assistant. Is this any way to run a universe? Or we want to go to Facebook and un-friend God – to remind him that his performance… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here You name the issue, and various groups of Christians have probably disagreed. Theological quarrels have erupted over stained glass vs. clear windows, organs vs. pianos, wine vs. Welch’s, and the King James Version vs. everything else. Church leaders have even threatened to banish each other over beards. During Christianity’s earliest centuries,… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here What motivates people to work hard and succeed at difficult tasks? In the 1930’s, a psychologist named Karl Duncker devised a famous experiment to try to find out. It’s called the Candle Problem. Small groups are given a candle, a box of tacks, and a book of matches. Their assignment is simple:… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Just outside Kyle Field – Texas A&M University’s football stadium in College Station, TX – stands the bronze statue of a young man named E. King Gill. Gill was sitting in the stands of another stadium in Dallas on January 22, 1922, as A&M (known by a different name at the time) played in the first-ever… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here On Wednesday, November 21, 1934, during one of the darkest stretches of the Great Depression, Harlem’s Apollo Theater held an Amateur Night. Aspiring dancers or singers could take the stage and try to win over the Apollo crowd, which was notorious for being rough on mere pretenders. One of the hopefuls… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Two days ago, the world lost the man known as “The Mouth of the South” and “Captain Outrageous.” The New York Times obituary for Ted Turner, who died at 87, exceeded 1,000 words – an earnest attempt to capture something of the entrepreneur’s over-the-top accomplishments and personal complexities. As the founder… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here The signature story of Israel’s history is the Exodus. It’s the account of the arduous trek of hundreds of thousands of freed Hebrew slaves across the brutal wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. The Promised Land of Palestine lies ahead. Egypt is in the rearview mirror. The people are buoyed by overwhelming hope and gratitude. Right? In truth, the… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here When I was 11 years old, I had the good fortune of spending a number of Friday nights at the home of my best friend, Larry. Larry and his family had the good fortune of living right beside an active railroad line on the north side of Indianapolis. We both loved hunting… Read more »
