These poems explore the connections between us: family, friends, children, parents, strangers. There is a sense that not all is as it seems to be, that somewhere just beneath the thin skin of it all lies a sacredness waiting to be discovered. …
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If you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.
-John Irving

#TheDayTheAngelsFell
Shawn Smucker enchants with a deftly woven tale of mystery and magic that will leave you not only spellbound but wanting more.Billy Coffey, author of There Will Be Stars
Thanks for visiting my tiny bit of space
-Anne Lamott, Bird By Bird

Six Books You Should Check Out
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It’s beautiful outside this morning. Seems like a nice day to celebrate some good books that are either newly-released or soon-to-come: 1. Mystics and Misfits: Meeting God Through St. Francis and Other Unlikely Saints by Christiana Peterson With untested ideals and a thirst for adventure, Christiana Peterson and her family moved to an intentional Christian […]

Forever Lost in My Normality
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I am sitting in a coffee shop I don’t often visit, a smaller one in the middle of the city where I live. It’s a bustling, bright place with worn wood floors and large windows. Nearly every seat is full, and the baristas chat with the customers like they’re all old friends. I get a […]

In Which We are Beginning to Find Our Way
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“I thought Mom went to college to be a Mom,” Sammy said, and he was completely serious, and we all paused for a moment before laughing hysterically, and therein surfaced one of this family’s major problems, from beginning to end, stated in ten simple words. * * * * * Once upon a time two […]

Some Thoughts on Book Contracts, Destinations, and the Importance of Hope
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The house is remarkably quiet, so quiet in fact that I can hear the hot water murmuring its way through the radiators. Outside, exhaust from our hot water boiler escapes the pipe, clouds up, gets swept through the breezeway, out onto James Street. It is a ghost, gone in an instant, frightened away by the […]

When the African-American Woman Took My Hand #RideshareConfessional
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I pulled into the narrow lane that ran through the parking lot and stopped, waiting for my next fare. I was in downtown Lancaster, waiting outside one of the places people can go if they need a warm place to stay, a meal, a connection. I don’t pick up a lot of people there. She […]

When the Doctor Told Him They Were Having a Boy #RideshareConfessional
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I pick up a guy on the south side of the city. It’s snowing. He gets in the car and smells like pot. “Hey, thanks, man. How are you?” he asks, and his voice is gravel, a dead impersonation of BB King. I wonder if he sings the blues. He certainly speaks them. “I’m good, […]