Faith & Living

Baseball's 6 All-Time Most Inspiring Players

admin — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:07:00 -0500

A hero, more than anything, is one who inspires us. Through his courage and selflessness, he impels us to great deeds of our own.

There are many baseball players who rank as heroes on the field, but only a special few whose actions on and off the field resonate with us so deeply that we admire them more as people than as athletes.

They give not just to their fans, but to their communities as well. Their contributions lift us—all of us—up. You could argue that these six former players are baseball’s greatest heroes of all time.

The Healing

jbloustein — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:18:57 -0500

One phone call.

No doubt you’ve heard those overnight success stories—the actor getting the breakthrough part, the struggling musician whose song everyone is suddenly talking about.

The book I’ve written, The Shack, has proved to be hugely successful in ways that I couldn’t possibly have imagined.

But the phone call that got it all started was something that threw my ordered world—what I desperately wanted people to believe was ordered—into pain and chaos long before I ever put pen to paper.

The Song That Lifts My Spirits

jbloustein — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:02:52 -0500

Hugh JackmanWhere You Know Him From
The Australian hunk can sing, dance and act. Recently he appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the Baz Luhrmann epic Australia, as well as hosting the 2009 Academy Awards.

What Music Lifts His Spirits
"Gonna Fly Now" by Bill Conti (better known as the theme from Rocky) Listen!

Fighting Spirit

test_1 — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:11:40 -0600

I skated out to center stage, or rather center ice, 10,000 people cheering me on at The Forum in L.A. I know it sounds hammy, but I’m a performer, and all my life center stage is where I’ve wanted to be. This was my comeback performance—my comeback from testicular cancer. Everyone, including me, wanted to see if I was as good as I’d been before the cancer. It had been 14 years since I won the gold medal at the Sarajevo Olympics. My own expectations were probably higher than they should’ve been.

Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood

jnalewicki — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:39:11 -0600

I received an e-mail from a friend with this odd subject line: Mark—is this true?

Before I opened the message, I knew its contents: “Children's TV host Fred Rogers served as a sniper during the Vietnam War. He always wore long-sleeved sweaters to conceal the tattoos.”

Because I co-edited a book on Mister Rogers, I'm often asked questions about him. This one was easy: Not true. No, no, no. (I’m trying to imagine Fred Rogers, in his cardigan, with a gun. Boggles the mind.)

Lovin' God's Green Earth

jbloustein — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:24:24 -0500

Did you hear? I got a new job this year, one I’m thrilled to pieces about.

It’s the 75th anniversary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and they’ve made me their ambassador.

Don’t look so surprised! I know I don’t seem like much of a nature girl and, okay, I probably won’t be going hiking in my heels anytime soon. But the Smokies…they touch my soul. Let me tell you why.

All that I am comes from those mountains where I was born and raised.

Still Dreaming Big

admin — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 10:31:00 -0600

GUIDEPOSTS: What was it like meeting Catherine Marshall when you were 17?
Diane Sawyer: It was a seismic wake-up call for everybody around. Catherine was a Junior Miss pageant judge that year. She seemed almost disappointed at how we contestants expressed our ambitions.

Fearless

admin — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 09:29:00 -0500

The world we live in, I've come to believe, is just a fraction of the universe, the froth atop a wave moving across a vast cosmic sea.

So it is no accident that over the years I have been in movies that have had strong mystical themes. The movies have taken on issues that are important to me and shown a powerful dimension to our existence beyond the rational world.

But it is off camera where I have had even more powerful glimpses of that other world, experiences that have changed me, shaped me and made me who I am, going all the way back to my earliest memory.

Bird on My Shoulder

admin — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:57:59 -0600

The other night I was sitting alone in my room at Wellesley College trying to write on the subject, "Why I Believe in God."

After hours of walking in circles—both mentally and physically—I decided to try out my ideas on some of the other students in the dorm. A lively argument began. I sensed in those girls the same confusion which I've felt so often. Yes, and the same need for answers.

It IS a Wonderful Life

admin — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:11:02 -0500

A friend told me recently that seeing a movie I made more than 40 years ago is a holiday tradition in his family. That movie is It's a Wonderful Life, and out of all the 80 films I've made, it's my favorite. But it has an odd history.