I wrote this in response to a great essay by a pastor I respect. He went through a hard time … More
Category: writing
At One Time
Today Monty talked about a difficult term, “Atonement,” and brought out several ideas about what this means. I think most … More
The Key to Being a Productive Writer
There is one key thing to do when you want to be a productive writer. You simply write. And write … More
Cookie Cutter
We step into a river, we believers, when we first decide to follow Jesus. The river is the great flow … More
Arms and the Man
If a foreign nation invaded America and as a result, 20 people every day were killed, at random, and no … More
Awash in a Sea of Tears
Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthian Believers, Chapter 10, lines 3-6 “For though we walk in the flesh, we are … More
God and Newtown
To my fellow Christians who are posting that “Newtown is God’s judgment on America for taking prayer out of schools”— … More
A Poem for Advent
America 2012 Twenty children were shot Charlotte Bacon, 6and six adults in one of Daniel Barden, 7the greatest tragedies Olivia … More
Words and Actions
Indeed I tremble for my country when i reflect that God is just: that His justice cannot sleep for ever
Sabbatical
If we want to have a time of rest, we have to be willing to have the wind stopped.
Losing My Religion Pt 3
I’m saying that this isn’t a lecture where an expert is advising you. I’m saying this is a lecture of someone saying “All of life is at your fingertips. Go for it. Don’t settle for less.”
Losing My Religion Pt 2
I get it that people think that Christianity is like any other religion, or that it is only a religion. It is that—a religion.
Losing My Religion Pt 1
People lie. Societies crumble. Businesses fail. Political parties speak one thing but pursue an opposite agenda. These are our gods, and they are proved not to be so much lies as they are simply untrustworthy—literally not worthy of our trust. Not worthy of us.
Three Is the Magic Number
Three is the magic number. Our third annual Word Jazz festival takes place at Boxley’s, a jazz club in North … More
The Communion of the Saints
What kind of people participate in the communion of the saints?
The Writing Finger Having Mov’d Writes On
The art of building the story through the use of counters, blanks, and empty spaces gives room for the story to build and to breathe.
People of the Book
It’s odd how most of us only know what’s between page 1, far behind us, and page yet-to-be-determined, perhaps only a little ways before us, where our present life concludes and the book closes with a final snap.
Book Review: Slavery by Another Name
Much of the success of the South around the turn of the last century can be traced to rise of industry centered in Birmingham, Alabama and in the cotton industry before the arrival of the boll weevil; this book helps explain how these riches were accumulated and who benefited.
Beauty and Ashes
I do not know if you can admit you’ve lived through that time, where beauty has changed to ashes. Often there is no safe place to have that discussion because life demands that you act as if life holds only beauty. There are chores and tasks to take care of. There are family members to support. Life goes on like a train, and there is never a cord to pull to say “Stop!” Whether you speak out or not—life goes on.
Sunday Words, Monday Deeds
I suspect that some of you are in the same boat with me. Thinking, “Lord, are you really calling me?” Because the awful reality is dawning that he is asking us to follow—to really follow – him.
Writing Exercises
So Nancy Kress gave us a set of writing exercises. One: Write a scene using only dialog. It’s an argument … More
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
There is a great clip on YouTube, where Bob Newhart is a therapist who attempts to help a lady with … More
Model Garage
We will always need that sense of being connected and that sense of knowing that someone sees us, recognizes us, and finds us valuable.
Acts of Faith
Have you ever walked into a movie halfway and then spent the rest of the movie trying to figure out what it all means? It makes for a challenging viewing experience—you don’t really know the characters, and you have to guess why people do what they do
Losing Faith
Have you ever done all the right things, checked all the boxes, filled out all the forms, signed on the dotted line—and still experienced disaster?
Telling
Maybe it’s that we’re human, but we can all tell our story. Not all of us can tell it with the same degree of passion or generate the same level of interest, but we can usually describe an event and what it meant to us.
Sometimes the Good Guys Win
How come I can want to do the right thing and be, inside myself, a good person, but both the outside and the inside are broken? How can the universe display such beauty and at the same time such brutality?