The Race

Let’s talk about endurance running. Let’s talk about Kim Allan. She set the world record for women’s endurance running in 2013 when she completed 310 miles in just over 86 hours – with no sleep. Before you give up on such feats yourself, consider the benefits of running 310 miles, a distance greater than New…

Good Laughter

Would you like a good laugh? I’ll give it a shot. Pick from among three jokes: Laughter is biblical. The Bible says, “We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, ‘What amazing things the Lord has done for them’” (Psalm 126:2). Did you catch that? When God’s people…

Fear of Long Words

The fear of long words is called “hippopotomonstrosesquippeda.” Makes sense. It took a 36-letter word to define a fear of long words. This word was first used by the Roman poet Horace in the first century to criticize writers with an unreasonable penchant for long words.  God is all about simplicity. The Message Bible reads,…

All the Answers

It’s okay to not have all the answers. Michael Rounds is the author of 10,000 Days Sober and an addiction recovery specialist at a correctional facility in Indiana. From his personal perspective, he suggests four ways to deal with a slip in recovery. One of those is to treat recovery as a marathon, not a…

World’s Strongest Man

Paul Anderson was the world’s strongest man. In 1957, he backlifted a table loaded with calibrated weights totaling 6,250 pounds. The 1985 Guinness Book of World Records said this lift was “the greatest weight ever raised by a human being.” Anderson made over 500 public appearances, in which he impressed millions with amazing feats of…

Mysteries

On January 20, 1987, Unsolved Mysteries began a run that lasted for 602 episodes. Hosted by Raymond Burr, Karl Madden, and Robert Stack, the show unearthed some of the great mysteries that had never been solved. Everyone loves a good mystery. Mystery books are the second most popular genre of books sold each year. Over…

Why We Lie

Paul Ekman is a well-known psychologist and was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2009. Ekman has spent over 50 years studying the habits of men and women. As a result, he has produced a list of the reasons that people lie. Interestingly, Dr. Ekman concludes…

Home Field Advantage

In baseball, teams play 162 games to see who can get the best record and that which comes with it – home-field advantage. In football, playing at home is worth about three points in the odds. In the NBA, the home team wins 63 percent of the time. In the NFL, it is 58 percent.…

Toy Story Lesson

The question is not whether you will fail, but when you will fail. And what you do next. Andrew Stanton, the director behind Toy Story, offered wise counsel: “Fail early and fail fast. Be wrong as fast as you can.” In other words, learn from your mistakes. Let your failures instruct your future, and move…

Napoleon’s Sad Ending

Finishing strong is epic. Ever heard of a fellow named Napoleon Bonaparte? One of the greatest military minds and conquerors in history, Napoleon died on this date 203 years ago. Things didn’t end as he would have hoped. After expanding the French empire across Europe, he began to experience military setbacks in 1812 and suffered…