To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In 1885, Tsar Alexander III placed an order for an Easter gift for his wife. It wasn’t just any Easter gift. The leader of Russia’s royal family asked the master jeweler Peter Carl Faberge to create something special. Something fit for an empress. The result was a white enamel Easter egg,… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here There’s an old story about a businessman who got quite a surprise when he was served his in-flight dinner. Tucked into the corner of his reheated food tray was a roach. That experience did more than just kill his appetite. It prompted him to write a sharply worded letter to the airline’s… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here It’s the biggest moment of your life. It’s just you and the goalkeeper, who is standing 12 yards away. The soccer goal he’s guarding is 24 feet across and 8 feet high. Will you hit the penalty shot that will win the World Cup for your country – eternally ensuring your… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In his book The Greatest War Stories Never Told, Rick Beyer describes the fateful charge of Pickett’s Brigade on July 3, the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg: With tens of thousands watching in awe, these brave men set off beneath the fierce afternoon sun. A mile of farm fields… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here The first fight of the Founding Fathers was about faith. The inaugural session of the Continental Congress – the group that would ultimately call for the drafting of the Declaration of Independence – convened in Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia, on September 6, 1774. Thomas Cushing, a lawyer from Boston, moved that the… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here When America’s ragtag revolutionary army faced one of its darkest moments, George Washington brought out his secret weapon. His eyeglasses. Things had gone unaccountably well for the colonists in their struggle against the British army, the world’s most elite fighting force. By the spring of 1783, treaty negotiations would soon guarantee America’s… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here What if you’re offered a gift that seems too good to be true? In 1835, an eccentric British chemist died and left his entire inheritance to America. By all accounts, James Smithson was a bit odd. He was the illegitimate child of the Duke of Northumberland. He never learned his true birthday. His… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here It’s a colossal work of art – 18 feet long and 12 feet high. John Adams, who is depicted standing heroically dead center, called it the “Shin Painting.” That’s because once it was mounted on the wall of the US Capitol building rotunda, where it remains to this day, the typical… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here A Star Trek character named Gary Mitchell made only one on-screen appearance in the TV series. Sixty years ago, he was featured in an episode titled “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” A one-show storyline may seem brief and humble, but it’s recently blossomed into something momentous. Mitchell, played by actor… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Last week, Mary Sue and I finally got around to having The Talk. Midwesterners know that at some point they need to sit down and have a serious conversation about where they will take shelter in the event of an approaching tornado. My wife and I have lived on our current… Read more »
