To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here The British press once declared him to be “the wickedest man in the world.” After all, he crossed every line, broke every rule, violated every taboo, and urged others to do the same. Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) actually enjoyed calling himself something else. He preferred the Beast, one of the Bible’s designations… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Five hundred and seven years ago, on the day we’ve come to know as Halloween, Martin Luther changed the course of history. The German Catholic priest and theology professor almost certainly had no intention of launching a movement that would turn Christendom inside-out and upside-down. But that was the outcome of… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here A half-century ago, the Ford Motor Company was embroiled in a national controversy concerning the Pinto, a compact car that sometimes burst into flames when struck from behind. One of the landmark accidents took place not far from my home in Indiana. A Chevy van ploughed into the back of a Pinto and… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here For most of my adult life I’ve been a birdwatcher. Birding, as its practitioners call it, is an interesting hobby. That’s because birds don’t stay still for very long. If you’re trying to visit all 63 national parks in the United States and you haven’t yet made it to Bryce Canyon, you… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier on April 15, 1947. It is difficult to comprehend the sheer hatred he had to face from many fans across the country, even in New York City, where he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Death threats and taunts were everyday realities. The movie 42… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here He spent 20 years of his life screaming his head off. As a drill sergeant, he was (in his own words) “the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work.” So when he… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here America lost one of its most gifted writers in 2016 when 70-year-old Pat Conroy died of pancreatic cancer. Conroy’s fiction (The Prince of Tides, The Water is Wide, The Great Santini) was primarily rooted in the tumult of his own upbringing as a “military brat,” and of the American South that… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here A few years ago John Gilbert died at the age of 25 at his home in Paradise, California. When he was five years old, John was diagnosed with Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy. That meant that during the course of his few years, John had progressively lost more and more of the physical… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here As J.K. Rowling was putting the finishing touches on her seven-part Harry Potter series, she received a lot of advice. Parents, teachers, psychologists, and fans of all ages around the globe made one heartfelt request: Please don’t let Harry die. A number of key characters had already met their demise at… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here “In due time.” That was one of my dad’s favorite Dad-isms. I have vivid memories of my brothers and I approaching our father after dinner. He would be reading the newspaper, since Dad read every single page of the Indianapolis Star every day. We would humbly present our requests. Could we… Read more »
