Category Archives: Uncategorized

On Eating Small Children

Our desire to eat children is certainly a human oddity. It is commonly discovered in big bosomed aunts who see a baby or toddler and declare, “I could just gobble you up!” Fortunately, such declarations are usually only followed by … Continue reading

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Grieving with Ari

I dreaded telling Ari that Pharaoh was gone. He knew we had been trying to find someone to adopt Pharaoh, but Ari did not know the lady was coming Tuesday afternoon. Ari had lost so much this last year. His … Continue reading

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School Goes to Heaven

One of the delights of these last two years has been picking Ari up after school. All the early grades, pre-K through first grade gather at the little gym in Myrtle Crest. Waiting parents gather outside the doors in a … Continue reading

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An Experiment

What I don’t know about WordPress could fill a black hole.

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Will You Not Come Down?

These are Gandalf’s words to Saruman in Tolkien’s The Two Towers. Saruman, once Saruman the White, had allowed a lust for power and greatness to corrupt him. But in this scene he stands in the window of his tower surrounded … Continue reading

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Why I Don’t Write About Teckla

Teckla has pointed out that she is seldom the subject of my blogs. It is true. Teckla, and our marriage are hard for me to write about. Here are a few reasons. First, our lives and hearts are so intertwined … Continue reading

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Loving Smeagol–and Addicts

Odd, as it may seem, reading J. R. R. Tolkien has helped me love meth addicts—of which there are many in Myrtle Point. Tom Shippey’s book, J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, argues that Tolkien’s Lord of the … Continue reading

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Kingly Gifts

Re-reading The Lord of the Rings while going through the darkest year of my life has led me to think about the kingly gifts that have sustained me. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is in many ways a story … Continue reading

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“Pajamas!”–A Hobbit Battle Cry

Of course, the actual battle cry of hobbits was “The Shire!” This cry, like “pajamas,” does not summon visions of military or urban grandeur. The memory of fat cabbages in well-tended gardens and fat hobbits in cozy holes are what … Continue reading

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More Spiritual Than God (Part One)

Of course, we can’t be more spiritual than God. We can, however, in the pretense of being spiritual reject solid Biblical truths about God and God’s ways. We sometimes clothe these rejections in humility, but this hyper-spirituality robs us of … Continue reading

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