To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. The picture above is beautiful. And also disquieting. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are hurtling toward the surface of the moon in the Apollo 11 Lunar Module on July 20, 1969. Within a few hours, Armstrong will take his “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” No one suspected at the… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. It’s rare for people to admit they’ve made big mistakes in the past. A pair of church historians, William Cook and Ronald Herzman, recall the time the moderator of a political forum asked the candidates vying in a local election to acknowledge a single personal misstep – anything at all – and what… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Charles Dickens is hands down the most famous fiction writer in the history of the English language. A few years ago, he was cited as the author of the most memorable line in all of British literature: “God bless us, everyone!” (Tiny Tim, from A Christmas Story). But that’s just the start. Dickens also… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. All sins are not created equal. Some moral failures are clearly worse than others. Our consciences may nag at us for rolling through a stop sign at 3:00 am, or cutting the little tag off a Sealy mattress, or smiling at Aunt Gertie and saying, “Why, of course, I’d love nothing more than… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Sometimes hope is born in the darkest places. During the totalitarian regime of Josef Stalin, it was illegal to speak even a word against the government of the Soviet Union. Political dissidents, artists, and “undesirables” were routinely seized and sent away to the gulags, which were forced-labor camps. More than a million never returned. One of… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Lt. Hiroo Onada did not give up without a fight. When the Japanese withdrew from the Philippine island of Lubang in December 1944, they left behind four soldiers. Their orders were to “carry on the mission even if Japan surrenders.” One of the soldiers gave up after six years. Another was killed in a… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Dr. C. Everett Koop was once asked by a reporter how he earned the medals on his uniform. He answered, “The top row is for what liberals did to me, the bottom row is for what conservatives did to me.” Indeed, few public servants have taken as much flak in recent years as the… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Have you ever wondered how woodpeckers can slam their heads into trees all day long and not have to pop a couple of ibuprofens? The answer is that a woodpecker’s body is essentially a giant shock absorber. Check out the Pileated Woodpecker above – one of America’s largest perching bird species, and the inspiration… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. More than 200 years ago, during the presidency of James Madison, the U.S. Treasury received an unusual gift. It was an anonymous donation of $5 from someone who admitted he had defrauded the government. Thus was born the Conscience Fund, the official financial depository for those who wish to contribute guilt money. Since that… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. During the first half of the twentieth century, Josef Stalin relentlessly tightened his ideological grip on the Soviet Union. Stalin subscribed to the view that religious thought and freedom were obstacles to the birth of the “new man” promised by Marxism – obstacles that could be ground to powder by government intervention. Churches… Read more »
