Jeremy didn’t realize what he was getting into when he arrived at the university for his three-year course and asked for the cheapest dorm room available. “It was awful,” he recounted. “The room and its bathroom were terrible.&r…

Julie and Liz kayaked off the coast of California, scouting for humpback whales. Humpbacks are known for being active near the surface, making them easy to spot. The two women got the surprise of their lives when one surfaced directly underneath them. …

For years, the Horn of Africa has suffered from a brutal drought that devastated crops, killed livestock, and imperiled millions. Among the most vulnerable—like the people at Kenya’s Kahuma Refugee Camp who’ve fled from wars and oppre…

Making his preflight checks for a flight from Charlotte, North Carolina to New York City, a flight attendant noticed a passenger visibly anxious and concerned about flying. He sat in the aisle, held her hand, explained each step of the flight process, …

In the worst UK residential fire since World War II, fire engulfed the twenty-four story Grenfell Tower building in West London, claiming the lives of seventy people. Investigations revealed a primary reason the flames spread so quickly was the claddin…

Rising among the red mountains of Sedona, Arizona, is the beautiful Chapel of the Holy Cross. Entering the small chapel, I was immediately drawn to an unusual sculpture of Jesus on the cross. Instead of a traditional cross, Jesus is shown crucified on …

In 1921, artist Sam Rodia began construction on his Watts Towers. Thirty-three years later seventeen sculptures rose as high as thirty meters over Los Angeles. Musician Jerry Garcia was dismissive of Rodia’s lifework. “That’s the payo…

As the “voice of the Denver Nuggets,” team chaplain Kyle Speller is most known for his rip-roaring, public address announcing during the championship basketball club’s games. “Let’s go!” he thunders into the mic, and…

In J. R. R. Tolkien’s book The Fellowship of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins starts showing the effects of carrying, for six decades, a magical ring with dark powers. Weighed down by its slowly corrosive nature, he says to the wizard Gandalf, “Why…

The world was amazed when four siblings ages one to thirteen were found alive in Colombia’s Amazon jungle in June 2023. The siblings had survived forty days in the jungle after a plane crash, which killed their mother. The children, who were fami…