Top Posts & Pages
Categories
Subscribe to Blog via Email
Join 43 other subscribers
Category Archives: Uncategorized
My Noisy Heart
It is hard to hear the voice of God over the sound of your own heart breaking. When those you love fiercely are self-destructing, how do you silence the fears, disappointment, hurt, and even self-blame? Love never fails. The noise … Continue reading
Dear Friend,
When you were a little kid playing at the church, I never imagined I would someday be praying for you to kick your heroin addiction. It seems that one year you did a weird church program we had—Caravans or something. … Continue reading
Against the Cult of Brokenness
You may have heard of Richard Russell. Last August he killed himself by stealing a Horizon Air plane, doing a few stunts, and then slamming it into a mostly deserted island near Tacoma. Russell had attended the community college where … Continue reading
Ari’s Kissing Game
Ari’s lifts his chin and sticks out his lower lip when he wants a goodbye kiss. His mom and dad are loving parents, so he is a kissy kid—well, unless he is punching or headbutting you (Ari is two). When … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Our Jagged Lives
When I was a kid, I thought it was a cool trick to break a pencil and then slide the jagged ends back together. If I was careful, I could fit them together so no one could see the pencil … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
The Prophetic Ministry of Life and Death
Life, and prophets, can throw us a curve ball. The widow Zarephath found this out when she took in Elijah. When they met, she was ready to die after she made her last handful of flour into bread for herself … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
I Should Have Danced
Last night Teckla and I found ourselves sitting at a table in the Port Orford Community Building watching a bunch of people dance to excellent Cajun music. Peter’s band, Bone Mountain Brothers, had opened for the Etouffee Band, so we … Continue reading
The Oliver Twist School of Theology
I am a prodigy. At age 16 I finished an advanced degree in the Oliver Twist School of Theology. I possess an M. I. degree—a Masters of Impertinence. Like Oliver Twist at his workhouse, I have learned to say, “Please, … Continue reading
Log-jam
For the last couple months I haven’t written anything. I am not certain the reason for the writer’s block. A loss of confidence or dearth of ideas? A fondness for words like “dearth”? Or perhaps it is a log-jam, too … Continue reading
Healing Hope in Rivendell
Tolkien tells us that while Bilbo and the dwarves were at Rivendell, “Their clothes were mended as well as their bruises, their tempers, and their hopes.” The longer I live, the more deeply I understand that hope needs mending. I … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
1 Comment