“Every news story is a reflection of the reporter who tells the story. Most news does not inhere in the event. An event becomes news. And it becomes news because it is selected for notice out of the buzzing, booming confusion around us. This may seem a fairly obvious point but keep in mind that many people believe that the …
For the Beauty of the Earth
For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies; Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise. For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night, hill and vale, and tree and flower, sun and moon, …
Love God and Do What You Will
“Love God and do as you please.” Or, “Love God and do as you wish.” Or, “Love God and do what you will.” This famous quote from Augustine of Hippo (534-430) is commonly interpreted to mean if we love God, then what He wants will become what we want—and what we want will invariably be what He wants. Thus, …
Rock of Ages
Augustus Montague Toplady, clergyman and writer, was born in 1740, at Farnham, about 20 miles southwest of Windsor, England. He studied at the prestigious Westminster School for a short time, but was sent to Ireland in 1755, the same year as his conversion—he had been greatly influenced by the teachings of John Wesley. Toplady received his degrees of Bachelor of …
Origami Trick
Amidst the flash and the hype, Matrix folding round like an origami trick, A raw metal sound, And smells of burning circuitry You have to wonder if it’s all Only apparently real. Still the cry arises Wafting sweet in the night “Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away.” Tristran Gylberd by Dr. George Grant
Justice, Mercy, and Christian Charity
Exhausted from his Herculean labors as a journalist, educator, statesman, theologian, pastor, and social reformer, Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) came to visit Vienna shortly after his first term in the Dutch parliament had come to an end on this day in 1876. Even as it does today, the city presented him with a jumble of contradictory impressions. The railways, roads, and …
Wilberforce and Clapham
No man in all of history fought as hard or as long to abolish slavery as William Wilberforce did throughout his life. A member of the British Parliament, he introduced anti-slavery measures year after year for 40 years until he retired in 1825. On this day in 1833, as he lay dying, word was brought to him that the bill …
Of Parish Life
The smiling little cottage, where at eve He meets his rosy children at the door, Prattling their welcomes, and his honest wife, With good brown cake and bacon slice, intent To cheer his hunger after labor hard: Such is the heart, the soul, the very essence, Of parish life: the hearth, the home, domesticity. Thomas Chalmers
My Utmost for His Highest
Oswald Chambers, Scottish Bible teacher, missionary, and author was born on this day in 1874. His best-selling book, My Utmost for His Highest, was published shortly after his death in 1917—he had been serving British troops in Egypt during the First World War. The book, taken from his chapel services, still remains the most popular daily devotional guide in print anywhere. by …
The Cause of Right
“There is little extraordinary about the achievements of a genius, a prodigy, or a savant. Inevitably, a great leader is someone who overcomes tremendous obstacles and still succeeds. That is the essence of courage. It is the ability to maintain, in the face of grave perils, a kind of incognizance of the consequences of doing right. It is the ability …
One Giant Leap
Apollo Eleven astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon as they stepped out of their lunar module on this day in 1969. Armstrong’s first words still echo across all the years and all the miles: “One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.”
Nothing by Mere Authority
When the Royal Society was chartered by Charles II on this day in 1662, it was the first scientific society in history. Interestingly, devout Christians, with their interest in God’s creation, were most responsible in bringing it into existence. In fact, its membership was overwhelmingly Puritan in makeup. The Society originally grew out of the meetings of the so-called …
The Good, the True, and the Beautiful
Mark Twain once defined a literary classic as “a book which people praise but don’t read.” Fortunately, Joseph Malaby Dent, founder of J. M. Dent & Sons, never took that quip to heart. Over the course of his career he probably did more than any other single individual to inculcate a popular appreciation for the classics—his Everyman’s Library editions, provided …
The Birken’ead Drill
On this day in 1852, one of the worst naval disasters in modern history occurred in the shark infested waters of the South Atlantic. The British troopship Birkenhead struck a rock shelf just off the coast of South Africa. The decrepit wood-hulled vessel carried the famed regiment of the 78th Highlanders, Scottish warriors who had distinguished themselves in every imperial scrap from the Napoleonic Wars …
Carver at Tuskegee
On this day in 1896 George Washington Carver, a recent graduate of Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, now Iowa State University, accepted an invitation from Booker T. Washington to head the agricultural department at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for Negroes, now Tuskegee University. During a tenure that lasted nearly 50 years, Carver elevated the …