To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl was gripped by a compelling idea. Was it possible that the indigenous people of South America, centuries before Columbus, had actually sailed across thousands of miles of open water and helped populate the Polynesian islands of the South Pacific? Heyerdahl and five companions decided to see if such a… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Those who follow Jesus, at their best, are like those little pink sampler spoons at Baskin & Robbins. We give people a taste of good things. In his book Habitation of Dragons, author and retreat leader Keith Miller recounts a presentation he gave at a church in another state. Miller had… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Thousands of bright red signs used to dot the sides of American roads. They were ads for Burma-Shave, a shaving cream that debuted in 1925 and proved to be as smooth as any barber shop product. But who wanted to try a shaving cream that sounded as if it came from… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Parents are well aware of the fact that on any given day they are passing along more than just peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to their kids. Children are seemingly equipped with spiritual and emotional Velcro. They pick up our attitudes, our opinions, our biases, our hopes, and our fears. And… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Earlier this week, at our local grocery store, I came face to face with A.I. A six-foot-tall pylon glided slowly down the aisle, emitting a series of happy squeaks. Its nameplate said, “Hi, I’m Tally! I check shelf inventory.” Tally is one of several robots being tested at Midwestern Kroger stores…. Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here “A lighthouse keeper who worked on a rocky stretch of coastline received his new supply of oil once a month to keep his light burning.” That’s the opening line of a brief story told by William Maxwell in his book So Long, See You Tomorrow. The keeper occasionally welcomed guests from… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here There’s something missing in the book of Esther. God isn’t mentioned once, even though Esther is one of the 66 books of the Bible. God’s name may be missing from the book’s 168 verses, but God is definitely not AWOL or “absent without leave” in Esther’s story. The account of this ancient Jewish… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here If you choose to be good and do good, life will go well for you. That’s what religion finally boils down to, right? There are certainly groups out there that would sign off on that credo. But the Jesus movement has never been one of them. That is powerfully illustrated in a… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here When people fall in love with God for the first time, they often feel a new and intense desire: Lord, use me to do great things! God will definitely answer that cry of the heart. What’s not always apparent, however, is what it costs to be used by God to do great things. When… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In 1906, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto noticed something interesting. As a rule, 80% of the peas that he harvested from his garden came from just 20% of the pea pods. Pareto also happened to know that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by only 20% of the population. And… Read more »
