You didn’t know my Grandma. I mean, perhaps you did—I do think she had outsized influence for a girl who grew up without a daddy in Manheim, Pennsylvania—but as a whole, she lived her life outside the notice of the world. It was a small, faithful life, rich in family and hospitality and love—for Jesus and her fellow man. “If […]
The Deeper Magic from before The Dawn of Time
The henna is beginning to fade from my hand. I can’t quite recall the flavor of the garlic chili green beans that final night. My arm doesn’t hold the warmth of my friend’s arm, leaned up against it, anymore. The deep magic is fading. But something remains. There is a deeper magic from before the dawn of time, one that […]
A Raggant in Aerwiar
Two years ago today, I arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina—my official move from northern climes to the south. The move was a bit haphazard in that I had come down for working visit a few weeks earlier and didn’t move my belongings down until a few months later, but March 31 was my official arrival. During my transition time after […]
Julie’s Porch
I sat in Julie’s living room this evening. I walked in, looked at the sofa, and turned to look back at her. “I’ve never sat down in this room before,” I said. She raised one eyebrow and cocked her head a little. “How is that?” I gestured to the darkened screen porch out the back door. “I’ve spent many hours […]
Backdrop
I’ve spent a significant portion of the past two days sitting in a sanctuary at a church in Nashville which I can only describe as “warm.” It is a building which seems to stretch its arms out in welcome. The older parts of it are made of wood that holds the patina of the years. In the sanctuary itself, a […]
New Guest Post at Everyday Liturgy
I had another guest post go up today at Everyday Liturgy titled, “A Romance It Certainly Is.” Here’s a snippet: We cannot avoid the reality of this world. We see its dark underbelly in everything from the news to human trafficking to the person who pushes past us in a crowd without apologizing. This world, and we people in it, […]
The Center Point
It often seems that my Advent meditations center around a single idea – often something meaningful to my reflections on the past year. Sometimes they’re painful meditations. Sometimes they are joyous. Sometimes they are revelations. Sometimes they’re old truths. This year’s meditations have focused the coming of the Christ as the center point of history. From creation to new creation, […]
The Blind Writer
I had a professor once who said, “The writer is the one who points and says, ‘Look.’” I’ve internalized that idea so deeply that I can no longer recall who said it – the words are now mine, and I repeat them from time to time when I’m called upon to say what it is I do – I point. […]
Starry Nite
The evening’s activities put me in mind of the event a year earlier. The tone both similar and worlds apart – a celebration of the start of the Christmas season, but this year without the aching heart and scratchy eyes of the day’s grief. As I walked away, the voices, amplified by microphones, echoed off the trees, the strains of the […]
Don’t You Want to Thank Someone
I heard this song for the first time about a week ago at Andrew Peterson’s Light for the Lost Boy release concert, and it’s been in my mind ever since – not in the “stuck in my head” sense so much as the “stuck in my soul” sense. I’ve been washing it through my mind’s ear over and over again… I can’t […]