If the images released this week from NASA's Webb Telescope are giving you pause, take note. For many, these majestic images of thousands of galaxies clustered in a mere grain of sand are confirmation that our life on Earth is a mere speck in a much larger reality. For others, the images can be unmooring, making them question their faith, their place, and their purpose. (For a glimpse at the initial images, look here: https://webbtelescope.org/)
Read MoreIn the 2015 book The Emotional Intelligence of Jesus, authors Roy M. Oswald and Arland Jacobson write that "emotional intelligence" is "the ability to control one's emotions -- not to put a damper on them, but be able to use emotions constructively to achieve desired goals and to form strong, positive relationships" -- and Jesus is the exemplar. We are often trained in what we need to know and what we need to do, but it is equally important that we recognize who we are in order to positively impact those around us, the authors argue.
Read MoreIn Stockholm, Sweden, boating is a way of life. With 14 islands connected by 57 bridges, passenger ferries and personal boats are as common as TriMet, MAX, and bicycles in the Portland Metropolitan area. And while a tapestry of waterways may sound idyllic, some 756,000 leisure boats are taking their toll on the environment.
Read MoreIn his posthumous novel Juneteenth, American writer Ralph Ellison penned this poignant exchange between two pastors at twin lecterns, speaking to those gathered at the beginning of a week-long Juneteenth celebration:
Read MoreWhen Keniche Horie was 23 years old, he sailed from Nishinomiya, Japan, to San Francisco, California, on a 19-foot plywood boat dubbed "The Mermaid" and became the first person in history to successfully make a nonstop journey across the Pacific Ocean. The year was 1962, and Horie was a sensation when he sailed under San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge after 94 days at sea surviving on rice and canned beans. Sixty years later, Horie has done it again: This past Saturday, June 4, Horie set a record at age 83 as the oldest solo yachtsman to sail nonstop across the Pacific Ocean.
Read MoreWhen Vietnam closed its borders to international visitors during the height of the pandemic, tourism authorities in northwestern Vietnam began dreaming of a pathway that would wow the world, fueling tourism and offering visitors a glimpse of serenity in the midst of global chaos. The resulting glass-bottomed Bach Long bridge was unveiled to much fanfare in April, and this week Guinness World Records declared it the world's longest bridge of its kind.
Read MoreAcademics and social scientists have studied happiness for generations, seeking just the right dollar amount where happiness is assured and we can expect to live happily ever after. But the solution eludes them, of course, because the answer does not lie in a simple formula.
Read MoreMaya Angelou was an American writer and social activist best known for her 1969 memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and her poem "On the Pulse of Morning," which she read at President Bill Clinton's inaugural ceremony in January 1993. Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1928, and raised by her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. She had a difficult childhood as she and her brother, Bailey, traveled between their parents' homes and endured egregious racism. At the age of seven, Angelou was raped by her mother's boyfriend. To avenge the horrible crime, Angelou's uncles killed her mother's boyfriend, and Angelou retreated into silence. Deeply scarred by the trauma, she did not speak for many years.
Read MoreRobert Morgan wasn't even supposed to be at work yesterday. He had agreed to trade shifts with a coworker, and he was outside the Palm Beach International Airport control tower reading a book on his break when the call came in: A passenger in a Cessna Grand Caravan single-engine airplane reported that his pilot was incapacitated and he was attempting to land the plane -- with no flying experience at all.
Read MoreIn Tokyo's "Manuscript Writing Cafe," customers sign in by listing their name, a writing goal, the time they plan to finish, and an approved nagging level: "mild" for a query about whether they finished as they pay and leave; "normal" for a check-in on their progress every hour; and "hard" for the silent pressure of a staff member frequently standing behind them, ensuring that they are tackling the work they intend to finish.
Read MoreIn central Tanzania, a tribal group known as the "Lion Defenders" has taken on the arduous task of tracking the lions that surround their community, ensuring that both lions and humans coexist peacefully. Young men in the Barabaig tribe have traditionally viewed lion killing as an important rite of passage, and the Lion Defenders are a remarkable worldview shift for the tribe.
Read MoreA longtime Presbyterian, Annie Dillard is a Pulitzer Prize-winning essayist who writes like a poet, weighing each word for its perfect meaning and nuanced impact as she presses into cultural assumptions. Dillard describes the magical beauty of the natural world and the raw pain of human emotions with painstaking intentionality, and in Teaching a Stone to Talk, she ponders the idiocy of a church that does not radiate awe:
Read MoreWhen Betty Reid Soskin retired earlier this month, she had just celebrated her 100th birthday a few months prior and was the National Park Service's oldest active park ranger. For Soskin, the job was about the importance of story.
Read MoreAre you listening to the words that define our culture? Two years ago, the word "Unprecedented" echoed as we watched the pandemic unfold. Last year, "The Great Resign" defined our work force as employees left their positions in droves. And this year, "Disengaged" is describing the curious disconnect many feel from a world where it is difficult to plan and the news is frequently negative.
Read MoreDefinitions of "good character" are bandying about in the news this week after viewers of this past Sunday night's Oscars were shocked by Will Smith's reaction to a Chris Rock quip (if you haven't seen it yet, look here for a brief clip -- and beware the language). Was Smith's decision a justified defense of family, a criminal act that deserved swifter consequences, or something in between?
Read MoreShe spoke her mind boldly, calling out injustices and seeking new solutions where old patterns no longer served. She lived life fully, stepping into diplomatic roles that women had not previously held and raising three daughters mostly on her own. She immigrated to the United States at age 11 and became a naturalized citizen at age 20; she spoke English, Russian, Czech, French, Polish, German, and Serbo-Croatian; and she once reported that she could leg press 400 pounds.
Read MoreTom Rowan is a retired police officer in his late 70s who has been offering the city of Chicago a splash of hope each March for the past 59 years: Every St. Patrick's Day, he dyes the Chicago River green.
Read MoreVolodymyr Zelenskyy joined a competitive Ukrainian comedy team at only 17, touring Russia and a number of post-Soviet countries as he performed and secured his role as a nationally known comedian. In 2008, he starred in his first feature film, Love in the Big City, followed by a slew of other popular films: Love in the Big City 2 (2008) and 3 (2014), Office Romance -- Our Time (2011), Rzhevesky Versus Napoleon (2012), 8 First Dates (2012), and others. He even voiced Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian dubbing of the animated comedy Paddington in 2014.
Read MoreNo, the commemoration of Ash Wednesday is not in the Bible, and no, Jesus does not intend for us to wallow in the ashes, lamenting our own depravity as we pull others into the mire alongside us. Ash Wednesday practices were first recorded in the writings of the 10th century monk Aelfric, and they were widespread throughout the church by the 11th century -- commonly including the reminder of Genesis 3:19 and the imposition of ashes on the forehead in the shape of a cross.
Read MoreMuch of Sherwood is reeling from the accident this past Sunday evening when two girls, ages 11 and 16, were hit and killed by an SUV at Southwest Edy Road and Trailblazer Place. According to police reports, the driver crossed over oncoming lanes and across a landscaped area a little before 7 p.m. February 20. He was apologetic and did not seem to know why or how this could have happened; he remained on the scene and has been cooperating fully with police. Both girls were Sherwood residents attending The Ridges and Sherwood High School.
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