Radio lessons in writing

ONE PIECE OF advice I give to would-be writers: listen to the radio. You can learn a lot about using words well from the ads. After…

The things we miss

THE BEST PART of my recent decade-turning birthday was having most of my kids together in the same place for the weekend. Managing to get three…

A bullseye book

THE SAYING goes that everyone has a book in them. What most people don’t know is that there is a second line to that adage: “And…

The tough love tightrope

ANYONE WHO’S dealt with a loved one struggling with addiction knows that “tough love” is a tricky thing. Most of us tend to overcompensate one way…

Moses and his women

WHEN GOD CALLED Moses to return to Egypt and bring the Israelites out of slavery, it was a tall order. It meant going back to the…

Second-chance giving

IF YOU HAVE been around church for any length of time, you’re probably familiar with that big drawing of a thermometer in the entrance somewhere. Its…

Samson’s last stand

A FORTHCOMING movie release has me revisiting my list of saddest verses in the Bible—headed by Matthew 26:58. This describes how braggadocious Peter, the disciple who…

Moving but getting nowhere?

ON DAYS I feel old, I remind myself that it might be because—to date—I’ve moved twice as often as the average American will in their entire…

When you don’t see the blind man

YOU CHANGE JOBS, and your new commute takes you past a bus stop where you see a group of people sitting on the bench. The traffic…

Straightening out my three-legged theology

I’VE SOMETIMES envied folk who talk about the Christian life as “walking with God,” as though it’s a comradely, side-by-side stroll through the countryside. For me,…