Beyond Fandom

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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here I am a stark raving fan of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, the 1970s British progressive rock group. Classic rock stars are a disappearing breed, of course, and in 2016 the world lost both Keith Emerson and Greg Lake. Therefore my last chance to connect personally with ELP is Carl Palmer, widely… Read more »

We Do Not Have

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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Certain sermons have a way of getting stuck in your head. My colleague Tim Gardner preached a message almost 30 years ago that I have never forgotten. It was called “We Do Not Have” – a rather strange turn of phrase that springs from a rather strangely-worded text in the New… Read more »

The Buck Stops Here

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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Harry Truman was an “accidental” president of the United States. Plucked from obscurity to be Franklin D. Roosevelt’s running mate in 1944, no one realistically imagined he would ever sit in the Oval Office. But the little-known Missouri politician became America’s 33rd chief executive when FDR suddenly died the following April…. Read more »

A Take-You-Down Song

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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here If you’re a fan of rap music, you probably thought last Sunday’s halftime show was the best ever. If you’re not into rap, you probably wondered why so many people were so worked up about Kendrick Lamar’s performance – and how anyone could figure out what he was actually trying to… Read more »

Love in a Bottle

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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Can love come into our lives by means of a bottle? Craig Sullivan, a lonely man in Scotland searching for his soulmate, certainly hoped so. Inspired by The Police’s song Message in a Bottle, Sullivan sent out over 2,000 message-bearing bottles a few summers ago along local beaches.  The good news… Read more »

True Greatness

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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Greatness was on display at last Sunday’s Super Bowl. The greatest number of viewers ever to watch a TV show on a single network tuned in hoping to see great football, great commercials, and a great halftime show. The Super Bowl, which is fixated like no other cultural event on the… Read more »

Keep Running

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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In 1983, the Westfield chain of shopping malls in Australia decided to stage an ultramarathon between the cities of Sydney and Melbourne. The race would begin and end, to no one’s surprise, at the Westfield mall in each metropolis.  That made the distance a staggering 543.7 miles. World-class ultramarathon runners –… Read more »

Small World

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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here More than 20 years ago, my three sons and I got to take the trip of a lifetime. We drove from our home in central Indiana to Alaska and back (9,210 miles in all). Following the Alaska Highway, we traversed the densely forested “wilderness” of the western Canadian provinces and Yukon… Read more »

A Seriously Big God

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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Brace yourself for some dreadful news. If today is an average day, approximately 15,000 children will die somewhere on our planet of preventable or treatable causes. That number should break our hearts. If losing a child represents the deepest sadness, imagine multiplying such grief by 15,000. It’s hard to know even… Read more »

Hands Off the Wheel

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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here So, are you ready to slip into the passenger seat of a car that drives itself? Ready or not, here they come.  Most major car companies have been investing heavily in the design and production of autonomous vehicles. Tesla, Ford, Honda, and Mercedes-Benz have led the way, not to mention start-ups… Read more »