Viktor Frankl yearned to make a contribution to humanity. As a respected young psychiatrist in Vienna before World War II, he had meticulously prepared the manuscript for a book that he dared to believe might help change the world. Since he and his wife were not yet parents, he called it “my mental child.” Then the Nazis came to power. … Read more »
On two occasions more than 40 years ago, the whole world almost had a very bad day. At mid-morning on November 9, 1979, watch officers at the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) inside Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, were shocked to see their early warning screens glowing with the unmistakable images of 1,400 Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles streaking toward the United… Read more »
Tombstone epitaphs fall into several categories. There are the silly ones that don’t really exist: Perry Mason: The defense restsHumpty Dumpty: “I was pushed!”Elvis Presley: A hunk, a hunk of rotting bonesThe Pillsbury Dough Boy: “I will rise again” There are epitaphs that people have been assured are real, but are just urban legends: W.C. Fields: “On the whole, I’d… Read more »
Irish author and artist Christy Brown was born in 1932 in Dublin, one of 22 children (13 of whom survived) belonging to a bricklayer and his wife. Christy was not like his siblings. His body was ravaged by cerebral palsy. As a child he could not speak. He exercised little control over his muscles. Most observers concluded there was nothing… Read more »
You might say that I married into Daffodil Mania. My wife’s mother, Phyllis, was joyfully fanatical about those perennial bulbs – whether white, yellow, orange, or pastels – that are currently blooming in many parts of America. She once served a term as president of the National Daffodil Society and routinely jetted to various cities to judge flower shows. Gardeners… Read more »
In the book of Numbers, chapter 13, Moses and the people of Israel stand at the threshold of the Promised Land. Behind them lies slavery in Egypt. Ahead lies the land “flowing with milk and honey,” the place God had promised to Abraham. The Lord says to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am… Read more »
During the middle of the twentieth century, Josef Stalin relentlessly tightened his ideological grip on the Soviet Union. Stalin subscribed to the view that religious thought and freedom were obstacles to the birth of the “new man” promised by Marxism – obstacles that could be ground to powder by government intervention. Churches were closed. Outspoken priests were arrested. Worshipers were… Read more »
Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth. For a creature that never actually existed, unicorns are very much in fashion. Depending on which dictionary you’re consulting, a unicorn is either a Silicon Valley start-up company worth at least… Read more »
Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth. When one of my earliest mentors, Dr. Howard Lindquist, was a young pastor, he visited the home of an older woman who was highly regarded in the community. At one point… Read more »
Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth. Indiana, which I have called home for most of my life, is a state divided. It’s all because of a glacier. The Wisconsin Glaciation, which happened about 30,000 years ago, covered… Read more »