Blog

Sunday night my wife returned from a long (and much-deserved) weekend away. She entered the house and was immediately surrounded by eight little arms, pawing and pressing and hugging (our four children, not a giant arachnid). Their voices were high-pitched and grateful, the incessant chirping of baby birds at their mother’s return to the nest.

Eventually I got a hug. Best for last and all that.

Finally, the excitement subsided. Maile and I walked outside for a moment of peace and also to check on the garden, which after only four days of being ignored had grown an impressive number of weeds.
Continue reading “Mistaking Children for Spiders, and Pulling Weeds”

Many folks on Facebook and Twitter asked how the first week of our “Love Wins” book discussion went at church – this seemed the easiest way to keep everyone up to date. I may or may not continue with weekly updates, depending on your interest in the topic, so let me know in the comments if this is something you’d be interested in reading once a week for the next five weeks.

About five minutes before nine, a couple walked in and sat down. Then three or four more people came in. Then two more couples. We pulled another table over. People just kept coming in – soon we had 18 people around three tables.

Enough people to stone me, or at least start a good sized riot in our small town of Gap.
Continue reading ““Love Wins” Book Discussion – Week One Recap”

One evening during junior high, I arrived home from playing at the creek with some friends only to discover that no one was home. Mom and Dad were gone. Sisters, gone. The sun was setting, and I was starting to worry.

Where did everyone go? I wandered back through the house again, walked around back, checked in the garage – no one.

Everyone had simply vanished.

Continue reading “How I Know My World Will End on May 21st”

I watch the boy from where I am, way up above the trees. It is a summer night, so even though it’s not completely dark yet, the house is quiet.

A long lane lays out a path, straight as the spine of a book, from a paved back road to the heart of the farm. It passes six fruit trees – the boy’s friend will fall from the highest branch of the pear tree the following autumn, scraping his back. The two will run inside, both crying, one from fear, the other from branches that tried to catch him but couldn’t. The boy’s friend’s mother will snap an aloe leaf in half, rub the sticky juice on his bleeding back.

Continue reading “Hiding Under His Bed, Reading “A Wrinkle in Time””

Two random thoughts and a question for you on this dreary Saturday in Paradise, Pennsylvania:

1) My new blog is brought to you by Jeff Burkholder. Have a look around. Then check out Jeff’s various comics: Zoidland, The Social Life of Frank and Linh, and The Ouro Brothers and the Neverending Tour.

2) I’m two days into my weekend of being a single-parent while Maile enjoys herself at the beach. Scorecard: Emergency Room Visits – 0; Frozen Pizzas Eaten – 2; Kids’ Movies Watched – 4; Baths Taken – 3

3) Tomorrow is the first day of the book discussion I’m leading at church on “Love Wins.” Today’s question is, “What ground rules need to be in place to ensure this remains a positive, learning experience about what God and the Bible say about heaven and hell?”