Senator James Harlan of Iowa, whose daughter later married President Lincoln’s son Robert, introduced a resolution asking the President to proclaim a national day of prayer and fasting. The Puritans and Pilgrims searched their souls collectively and individually in a day of fasting and repentance when they experienced a natural calamity—a prolonged drought, a [...]
President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on this day, April 14, in 1865, five days after General Ulysses S. Grant accepted the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, thus ending the bloodiest war in American history. Listen To The Original Song "The Revenge Of Old Glory" When the President breathed his last [...]
Jedediah Smith, a devout mountain man, discovered the South Pass over the Rockies in March of 1824. This led him beyond the vast western frontier where he opened the first land route to California. As reverent as his contemporary explorers were profane, young Smith reveled in the beauty and magnificence all around him which [...]
2019 Annual IndieReader Discovery Awards June 1, 2019 – Today, Jennifer L. Armentrout, a New York Times and International bestselling author, announced the winners of the 2019 annual IndieReader Discovery Awards (IRDAs) at Book Expo America (BEA)/Book Con, a major trade show in New York City. The Unnamed Girl by Mike H. Mizrahi of [...]
The 16th President gave us a glimpse into his thinking on the subject on Oct. 1, 1862, when he shared the following spiritual meditation about the struggle that was tearing the nation asunder: “I am almost ready to say this is probably true: that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not [...]
Now that’s a good one, right? A blessing…? Tell that to the people in Northeastern Congo, where innocents are being hacked and raped and killed by militiamen. It makes no sense that they would be thankful for such tribulations, or that forgiveness is possible. How about someone suffering from the death of a loved [...]
One week before this day, April 14, in 1865, Robert Lincoln brought a photograph of Confederate General Robert E. Lee over to his father, President Abraham Lincoln, as he ate breakfast. The President gazed at the old warrior's image and said, "It is a good face...the face of a noble, noble, man. I am [...]
(Disclaimer: Karen and I pray regularly. I respect all who profess religious affiliations other than my Christian faith, as well as those who are agnostic or atheist.) Do you pray? And what does that have to do with our long deceased president? Today, March 12, marks the 117th anniversary of his death, and I’d [...]
On this day, Feb. 2, in 1831, a 23-year-old seminarian named Samuel Francis Smith first heard the tune used for the British national anthem. Delighted with the music, he was moved to write new lyrics to the same melody. “My Country Tis of Thee” was first performed on July 4 that year, and went [...]
Don’t you agree? Music is magic for the soul. It can root you in the here and now, and it can catapult you over the canyons of time to special moments in your past. Music is a medicine that can bind our wounds. Earlier this week I received and shared a FB post that [...]
