Practicing the Little Things

Practicing the Little Things

Two minutes into US Airways Flight 1549 on January 15, 2009, Captain Chesley Sullenberger III suddenly had quite a lot on his mind. His A320, having departed New York’s LaGuardia Airport on its way to Charlotte, NC, had just ploughed into a flock of Canada...
Hope in the Midst of Failure

Hope in the Midst of Failure

You have to feel for Carson Wentz. The Indianapolis Colts are paying him millions of dollars.  He has sufficiently elite skills to be one of only 32 athletes who will regularly start at quarterback for an NFL team next fall.  Just six years ago he was...
The Watchers

The Watchers

A dozen years ago, the authors of a popular blog in the state of Oklahoma took a poll: “Who is the most powerful person in our state?”Jesus came in second – a rather surprising outcome, given that Oklahoma is widely regarded as the buckle on the Bible Belt.Chief...
Rituals of Grace

Rituals of Grace

I began to tie my own necktie when I was a teenager. From the start, it seemed maddeningly difficult.  Unnatural.  I felt clumsy.  Do I really have to learn how to do this? Over time, however – and lots of practice – things changed. ...
Laughing at the Devil

Laughing at the Devil

Some subjects are just too painful, too controversial, or too recent to make people laugh.Surely Adolph Hitler is near the top of that list.But that didn’t stop actor and director Mel Brooks from satirizing Nazi Germany just 22 years after the collapse of the Third...