In the Ken Burns PBS series on jazz music, Duke Ellington was asked how it felt to be unable, due to segregation, to stay in the guest rooms of the very hotels where he and his band performed. Duke said, “I took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.” I’m a big […]
The new minister was filling in for a boys’ bible class and opened with what he thought was a simple question: “Who knocked down the walls of Jericho?” The boys looked puzzled. One said, “Wasn’t us.” Another chimed in, “We didn’t even know there was a wall.” Later, the preacher brought it up at a […]
In the summer of 1985, thirty-year-old Julie Gold, an aspiring singer/songwriter, was working odd jobs in New York City when she received word from her parents in Pennsylvania that they were shipping the family piano to her as a birthday gift. The day after it arrived, Julie sat at the keyboard and in two hours […]
There are many people who believe that Sherlock Holmes was a real person. After all, his “biography” is as easy to find as Winston Churchill’s! From 1887 to 1927, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote of the famous detective known for his heightened skills of observation. Holmes was both memorable and beloved—and entirely fictional. Yet, there […]
Malcolm Muggeridge is remembered as one of the most notable figures of the twentieth century. The wit and style of the self-dubbed “fatally fluent” journalist was endearing and yet, controversial. He was present in print, on the radio, and television. With over fifty years in the public eye, Muggeridge knew well the effect of publicity […]
“The word aerobics came about when the gym instructors got together and said: ‘If we’re going to charge $10 an hour, we can’t call it jumping up and down.’” – Rita Rudner Let’s be honest—exercise sounds great… in theory. But once the soreness sets in, the machines confuse us, or we realize we’re paying money to jump up […]
(From a “Slice of Infinity” blog by Jill Carattini) In a poem titled “Moments of Joy” Denise Levertov tells the story of an old scholar who takes a room on the next street down from his grown children—“the better to concentrate on his unending work, his word, his world.” And though he comes and goes […]
“And why worry about a speck in the eye of a brother when you have a board in your own? Should you say, ‘Friend, let me help you get that speck out of your eye,’ when you can’t even see because of the board in your own? Hypocrite! First get rid of the board. Then […]
Do you ever wonder about the value of prayer? Do you wonder if there is really such a thing as a direct connection to Heaven? And if there is, does it make any difference on Earth? Christians are frequently and regularly admonished to pray. We use catch phrases, such as “I’ll keep you in my […]
Charles Swindoll tells a funny story about a nine-year-old named Danny who came bursting out of Sunday school like a wild stallion. His eyes were darting in every direction as he tried to locate either mom or dad. Finally, after a quick search, he grabbed his Daddy by the leg and yelled, “Man, that story […]
