To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish. What you see poised on a single human finger in the image above is a pinecone. But it’s not just any pinecone. That’s the primary reproductive apparatus for the California redwood, the tallest living thing on the planet. Every one of the cone’s woody “scales” is… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Great musicians write killer songs. One of history’s greatest musicians wrote a composition that almost “kills” those who are courageous enough to try to play it. We’re talking about Ludvig van Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata, arguably the ultimate piano masterpiece from the man who almost singlehandedly defined the technical possibilities of the keyboard. Beethoven wrote 32… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Throughout the month of August, we’re looking at Ecclesiastes, that strange and seemingly “modern” Old Testament book that depicts what happens when humanity searches for ultimate meaning apart from God. As 2012 drew to a close, the Associated Press had already chosen its Story of the Year: the re-election of Barack Obama. Then on… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. A Scottish village of about 8,500 residents has been in the world’s spotlight twice in the past 30 years. Dunblane has become famous as the hometown of Andy Murray, the first British man to win a Wimbledon singles title in 77 years – a feat he accomplished against the great Novak Djokovic in… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Gregory Boyle is a Jesuit priest who leads a special ministry. The guy with the snowy beard in the picture above is the founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries, a gang-intervention program in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles – arguably the gang capital of the world. His remarkable book Tattoos on… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Author and sociologist Tony Campolo is frequently invited to speak about his faith around the country. A few years back he visited a church in Oregon. Following his message, Tony was approached by a man who was in the last stages of a battle with cancer. Campolo laid his hands on him and prayed… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. It was hands-down the most memorable Easter gift I have ever received. One year, when my two brothers and I were in grade school, Mom didn’t settle for colored eggs and chocolate bunnies. Just for fun she bought each of us a live baby chick. Older brother Scott named his Khruschev, the Soviet dictator… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. The first-ever presidential inauguration took place on April 30, 1789, in New York City. On that date, Washington D.C. – the nation’s capital that would ultimately be named for the first president – was still swampland by the Potomac. Every detail of this special event was meticulously planned. Except for one. Nobody had remembered… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. You’ve heard the Wilhelm Scream before. You probably just didn’t know it had an actual name and history. The Wilhelm Scream was recorded in a studio more than 70 years ago by voice actor Sheb Wooley, who’s best known for his novelty song The Purple People Eater back in 1958. Wooley was asked to… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here..The most telling argument against the Judeo-Christian understanding of the world is the silence of God. Prayers go unanswered. Children get sick and die. Dictators drag their countries into meaningless wars. Natural disasters claim thousands of lives. I recently had lunch with a friend who has had enough. The last two years of his… Read more »
