Calling the plays
FOR ME, PRAYER is a bit like American football. I’m not talking about desperate Hail Mary’s, but how—after more than two decades in the United States—my…
Turned off by the gas pump gospel
FOR ME, THERE’S a point where the appealing quiet confidence of faith becomes repellent loud certainty. Like the guy who sprang out at me between the…
Looking through the Easter window
WHEN I WAS a boy in England, one of the most popular children’s television programs was Play School. Each episode featured a short documentary that kids…
A reluctant legionnaire
THE FIRST RULE of volunteering, I have learned, is to read the small print on the sign-up sheet. Otherwise you end up with stuff to do…
Keep. It. Short.
I HAVE FOUND it. The answer. To good writing. Finally. And it is so…Simple. For years I struggled. Striving to improve my craft. Sweating over structure.…
Up on the roof
ON MY DAILY walk with Woodley, our golden retriever, we pass nearby houses under construction. There, workers scramble around on the rooftops without an apparent care…
True kings do donkey work
IN HER superb book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain notes how American society has gone from a…
Lessons from an old man’s prayers
IN RECENT TIMES, an old man has been teaching me about prayer. About the forgotten hope and doubt that so often surrounds it. And, how there…
A doctor’s prescription for good writing
SOME ASPIRING writers look a bit confused when, having asked me what I think they should read to help them develop their skills, I suggest the…
Love is a balm, not an itch
SCOURING THE shelves of Valentine Day cards, I have yet to find one with a picture of a bouquet of poison ivy on the front, and…
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