A few years ago, I experienced the adventure of walking through an authentic European garden maze. The first time I saw an aerial photo of one of those labyrinthine backyard hedges – the playgrounds of the rich and bored during the Enlightenment – I yearned to encounter one first-hand. Opportunity knocked when I visited Hampton Court Palace, one of the historic… Read more »
Malcom in the Middle, a sitcom about a comically dysfunctional family, was a smash hit on Fox for seven seasons (2000-2006). Lois, the overbearing mother (played by Jane Kaczmarek) is married to Hal, the emotionally immature but heart’s-in-the-right-place dad (played by Bryan Cranston, whom few people suspected at the time was on his way to becoming a critically acclaimed star). They… Read more »
On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln stood against the backdrop of the U.S. Capitol and presented his Second Inaugural Address. Less than five weeks later, the core goals of his presidency – the surrender of the primary Confederate forces and thus the preservation of the Union – would finally be accomplished. The expectation of those victories buoyed the nation’s capital. If… Read more »
Just because you’re close to somebody doesn’t mean you’re actually close to somebody. The original Siamese twins were a memorable case in point. Chang and Eng (who later took the surname Bunker) were born in 1811 in Siam, or modern-day Thailand. They were conjoined twins who were united at the sternum by a five-inch strip of cartilage. Chang and Eng did everything together. … Read more »
On June 6, 1944 – D-Day – Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, to begin the liberation of Europe from Hitler’s Third Reich. The beaches were not created equal. Pointe du Hoc is an imposing limestone bluff between the Omaha and Utah landing sites. Atop its 100-foot cliffs, the Germans installed guns that were capable of lobbing shells into Allied… Read more »
Mary Sue and I had been married for exactly six days. I wanted to do everything right to let her know that I was a person she could trust for – well, for the rest of her life. It was the last day of our whirlwind honeymoon road trip to Florida. Her childhood best friend would be married the following day in… Read more »
Shortly before his 17th birthday, Craig Barnes and his brother came home from the Christian camps where they had been working for the summer. They were PK’s – “pastor’s kids” – and their identity had largely been shaped by the predictable rhythms of home and ministry. All that changed when they returned to discover their parents were getting divorced. Their mother had… Read more »
Back in the 1980s, Phil Vischer had a big idea. The puppeteer and amateur filmmaker dreamed of developing a creative way of teaching kids how to discern right from wrong. Along the way, he would introduce them to Bible basics. His big idea led to Big Idea Productions, which led to VeggieTales – the ongoing adventures of Bob the Tomato and Larry… Read more »
Two weekends ago, more than 20,000 runners, joggers, walkers, and wheelchair participants left the starting line of the OneAmerica Indy Mini-Marathon. The race is one of the world’s premiere 13.1-mile annual events. It begins and ends in downtown Indianapolis, and famously includes a single two-and-a-half-mile lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the “500.” For some participants, the Mini-Indy is the… Read more »
Year after year Stumpy and Martha attended the fair in their home state, and every summer it was the same story. Stumpy was tantalized by the old-fashioned biplane in which anybody could take a ride for ten dollars, and Martha was disgusted by such an obvious waste of money. “Ten dollars is ten dollars,” she would always say. And Stumpy would go… Read more »