Just the facts, please

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO the author bio? Somewhere along the way, the basic verbal snapshot got sidetracked. What used to be a simple reference point for the…

Why books still matter

THE WRITER OF Ecclesiastes had this to say about writing in chapter 12, verse 12: “Of making many books there is no end.” If that was true…

Who wants to be a Millie-onaire?

LIKE MANY OTHERS, I have something of a love-hate relationship with social media. I enjoy the benefits, but am concerned about the downsides (which I see…

‘So that’ or ‘So what?’

TOO MANY NEWBIE writers approach the craft like the little girl with her bow and arrow in the accompanying cartoon. It’s a version of, “Fire, ready,…

Chewing the news

NOW, MORE THAN ever, we need to be careful about how we follow what’s happening in the world. So let me offer a repeat of a…

The Prayer Pines

EVERYONE WHO KNOWS our stretch of Florida’s Emerald Coast will recognize the line of pine trees along Western Lake. For visitors, they may be the memory…

Facing the right way

A POPULAR CONTEMPORARY chorus celebrates how God’s goodness “is running after, it’s running after me,” but, to be honest, I’m not so sure that sentiment is…

Overlooking obedience

AMONG THE QUALITIES celebrated as evidence of a winsome Christian life are the likes of love, joy, peace, patience and kindness. Not surprising, because—after all—these are…

Intros and outros

GROWING UP AS a third-generation newspaperman, I was schooled in the hard “intro” (or “lede,” as they say in the U.S.) approach to writing—a short paragraph…

Truly Fully

SOMETIMES, MY understanding of God is more theory than reality. More something I know in my head than I can really claim to embrace in my…