To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here People resist change. Even when it comes to the simplest things. In 1990, Crayola decided to retire eight colors from its iconic box of 64 crayons. In their place, the world’s largest crayon manufacturer introduced eight new vibrant colors, including Royal Purple, Jungle Green, and Hot Pink. This seemed to be… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here “Hi, I’m 11 and I want a record deal. Call me.” You have to say this about Taylor Swift: She has never lacked confidence. As a preteen hoping to break into the country music scene, she darted in and out of Nashville record companies while her mother and brother waited in… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Mark Twain was on top of the world. In 1861 he officially became a riverboat captain on the Mississippi. Piloting a steamboat combined adventure, danger, and the sheer romance of chugging up and down the longest river in North America. It was lucrative, too. Historians estimate that riverboat captains were the third… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here The United States Flag Code can be reduced to a single sentence: You’re doing it wrong. It’s a good bet that most of your fellow citizens, even on America’s 248th birthday, aren’t actually aware that such a code exists. Specifically, it’s Chapter 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code,… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here This is that special time of year when monarch butterflies grace our gardens, not to mention the milkweeds growing alongside farmers’ fields. For a long time, these beautiful, fragile creatures were at the center of one of the great mysteries of science. Every fall, people both east and west of the… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here There are child prodigies. And then there was Blaise Pascal. Born in 1623 in Rouen, France, Pascal was the son of a tax collector. By the time he turned 16, he had written a treatise on projective geometry that is still relevant after four centuries. He followed that up with work… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here For most people, climbing Mt. Everest is a peak experience in more ways than one. Reaching the summit of the 29,032-foot mountain means you can justifiably claim to have stood “on top of the world.” Getting there is also likely to require more stamina, perseverance, courage, and risk-taking than the vast… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here One of the vivid memories I associate with being nine years old is hearing my mom say to me, seemingly out of the blue, “Good news! I’ve signed you up for piano lessons, beginning next week.” I did not in fact receive that as particularly good news. In fact I fought my… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here For thousands of years, people have looked to the stars during troubled times. From ancient Mesopotamia to the dawn of the internet, astrology has been a source of reassurance and guidance. Astrology’s staying power into our own time has frankly stunned the world’s academic community. The notion that it’s possible to… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here When we decide to follow Jesus, we won’t necessarily begin to do a lot of new things. Our call is to do the same old things in a whole new way. In his book Reaching for the Invisible God, Philip Yancey tells us about one of his friends – a hand… Read more »
