To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. The Suez Canal is one of the world’s most vital shipping links. Its 120 miles connect the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, cutting a swath through the arid Egyptian wilderness on the west and the deserts of Saudi Arabia on the east. This “shortcut” usually takes about 12-15 hours, allowing ocean-going vessels… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. A number of years ago I received a gracious invitation. Dr. Ben Johnson of Columbia Seminary, who was well known for encouraging young writers, asked if I would be interested in collaborating with him on a book about congregational renewal. After thinking things over for approximately five seconds, I enthusiastically agreed. The book was… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Ancient mariners were famous for their stories of peril on the high seas. They spoke of the multi-tentacled Kraken that splintered whole ships; a vortex called the Maelstrom that pulled vessels down a kind of oceanic drain; a precipitous drop-off where the flat earth came to its edge; and warlike mermaids and mermen… 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. In the world of economics, one word is more powerful than any other. That word is free. In his book Predictably Irrational, economist Dan Ariely points out that “zero is not just another price.” Getting something for nothing is a source of irrational excitement. Things that we would never say we actually need become irresistible because… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. “It’s the best of songs, and it’s the worst of songs.” That’s the verdict of Dave Marsh in his book Louie Louie: The History and Mythology of the World’s Most Famous Rock ‘n’ Roll Song. In 1964 a Seattle band named the Kingsmen released their own version of a raucous Caribbean chantey that had… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. When American musicians sell 500,000 copies of a single or an album, they are rewarded with a symbolic gold record. NASA scientists forever redefined the meaning of that term when they sent two literal phonograph records – each made of copper and covered with pure gold – into deep space, crossing their fingers… 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. “Your legs are thinner than my arms!” That’s how one of the contestants at Nathan’s Hot Dog eating contest on Coney Island on July 4, 2001, mocked the new guy. The new guy was Takeru Kobayashi, a 23-year-old Japanese economics student who had taken up competitive eating as a way to pay his light… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Who was the first president of the United States? That may sound like the easiest question on an American history pop quiz. But over the years a surprising number of different answers have been proposed. It really comes down to when America actually became a nation. The Fourth of July commemorates 1776’s Declaration of Independence… Read more »
