In 1987, Chinese government official Liu Xiaocheng was so deeply moved by the performance of a small group of artists with disabilities that he vowed to rewrite the negative stereotypes about people with disabilities in Chinese culture. Liu embarked on a recruitment trip through China, seeking talent for a new troupe of differently abled musicians.
Read MoreThe National History Museum in London released a number of entries for its annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition yesterday, and the photos are a breathtaking freeze-frame of God's artistry and perfection. According to this year's judges, the competition received a record number of entries this year: 50,000 submissions from photographers in 95 countries.
Read MoreWhen I was an undergraduate studying journalism in the 1980s, freedom of speech was a cornerstone of our Media Law and Media Ethics courses. Without the First Amendment, our professors affirmed, our nation would no longer be free. But anonymous speech was always a tenuous topic.
Read MoreWhen Hansle Parchment boarded a Tokyo bus en route to the Olympic Stadium on the day of his 110-meter hurdles semifinals race, he put in his earbuds and settled in for the ride, focusing on the competition ahead. But he realized something was amiss when the bus pulled into an aquatics arena rather than the stadium. Volunteers advised that he board a second bus in the other direction, but Parchment knew he would miss his warm-ups and possibly the race itself. Thankfully, a volunteer came to his rescue.
Read MoreFina Kiefer of Palmer, Alaska, was missing for almost two days on the Pioneer Peak Trail northeast of Anchorage when she emerged from the woods about a mile from the trailhead. An experienced hiker, Kiefer later reported that a surprise encounter with bears chased her off the trail and left her disoriented as she tried to find her way back to the trailhead.
Read MoreWhen the right-sized home went on the market in the right neighborhood in Skippack, Pennsylvania, Sara Weaver and her husband purchased the 1872 farm house without an inspection. And while the interior of the home seemed oddly dirty, in this booming house market when homes are selling for $100,000 above the asking price, buyers often don't have the luxury of pausing to ask questions.
Read MoreWhat calm we would instill in others if we were all a little more like Truffles the cat ...
Danielle Crull, an optician in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, rescued a long-haired black-and-white kitten from the forest nearly four years ago, and today that kitty is bringing joy to hundreds of children who feel more confident in their eyeglasses and patches.
Read MoreAccording to this morning's headlines, the Bootleg Fire in Klamath and Lake counties has grown so large at more than 600 square miles that it is generating its own weather. Enormous columns of smoke and ash have risen up to six miles high into the sky, and fire crews have repeatedly had to back away from the flames as fireballs leap from tree to tree, exploding and sending embers bursting out to start new blazes.
Read MoreWhen our five kids were ages seven and under and life was a joyful blend of carpet-ground graham crackers, apple juice-sticky kitchen counters, and yet another washer load of cloth diapers, I remember listening to a Sunday sermon series on Sabbath and wondering how in the world I was going to find 30 minutes alone for contemplative prayer when I could hardly find time for a shower.
Read MoreWhen a national Christian-owned retail business ran a full-page newspaper ad on July 4 titled "One Nation Under God" and essentially argued that America should be led solely by Christians, a backlash on social media questioned the company's intent.
Read MoreHeaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before -- more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle. -- Pip from Charles Dickens' Great Expectations
Read MoreTo ease the social awkwardness many of us are experiencing as we emerge from the pandemic, Metcalfe's Market in Wisconsin offers its customers and employees color-coded rubber bracelets when they walk in the door: red means stop, as in please maintain six-foot social distancing and avoid physical contact; yellow means caution, which translates to "elbows only" for those still exercising caution but not fully socially distancing; and green means go, welcoming handshakes and high-fives.
Read MoreMichael Packard, 56, is a licensed commercial lobster diver in Provincetown, Massachusetts, who was enjoying a typical Friday morning of diving to lift lobsters off the sandy ocean floor last week. His boat, the "Ja'n J," was surrounded by fishermen catching striped bass, and the water was a balmy 60 degrees when he dove in at a little before 8 a.m.
Read MoreDog lovers, take note: A study published last week in the journal Current Biology has concluded that puppies are naturally wired to communicate with people from birth.
Read MoreAs we emerge from the trials of a global pandemic and enter into the tenuous landscape of a changed new world, it can be all-too-easy to allow anxiety to color our days. Do we wear a mask? No mask? Shake hands? Bump elbows? Step into a crowd? Stick with Zoom? A guidebook or checklist would ease the re-entry, but alas, we are making history with each new day of 2021, and the Bible reminds us again and again that we are not to be anxious -- even when the cost is steep and our reserves are low.
Read MorePut yourself completely under the influence of Jesus, so that he may think his thoughts in your mind, do his work through your hands, for you will be all-powerful with him to strengthen you.
-- from A Gift for God by Mother Teresa
Read MoreIn January of 1951, three Italian musicians sang original, unreleased compositions on the radio in what became the first iteration of the Festival Della Canzone Italiana di Sanremo (the Italian Song Festival of Sanremo). Two years later, the expanding new-song festival moved from radio to live Italian television, and two years after that, the Sanremo Music Festival inspired the creation of the Eurovision Song Contest, an international competition that provided a way for war-torn Europe to draw together after World War II by showcasing new compositions from around the world.
Read MoreIn a 1942 letter to his former student Mary Neylen, writer and professor C. S. Lewis acknowledges that we are too often caught up in life's whirlwinds, forgetting to set aside our assumptions and watch for God in the ordinary.
Read MoreThe conference notifications keep arriving in my inbox: "What Does It Take to be Happy?" "What is Happiness to YOU?" "In Pursuit of Happiness." We spoke this past Sunday about the ways God has used plagues in Exodus and again in Revelation to get our attention, pointing to the inadequacies of the idols we hold dear and ultimately drawing us closer to Him. So how has a longing for happiness emerged from our current pandemic?
Read MoreImagine a 700-acre farm rolled up and squeezed into a 95,000-square-foot warehouse in southern Los Angeles County. Better yet, imagine a farm twice that size here in Oregon, condensed and stacked into our local Safeway grocery store. Sound unlikely? Meet Plenty, an indoor vertical farming company founded in 2013.
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