Flannery O’ Connor has a short story with the word “artificial” in the title, and you should read it. Here is the ENDING of that story… Mr. Head stood very still and felt the action of mercy touch him again but this time he knew that there were no words in the world that could […]

As we monitor the 2024 Presidential campaign(s), and as we anticipate who the next POTUS will be; THE BIG QUESTION ON EVERYONE’S MIND …What is the main point of the last chapter of the first book of the Bible? In Genesis chapter 50 we find the entire empire of Egypt weeping over the death of […]

Once upon a time there was a guy named Jonas. Jonas had a queer[1] upbringing. Jonas’ dad was a fella named Sufjan Stevens,[2] and his mom was a gal named Salem. Jonas didn’t see much of his ma growing up because she was incarcerated for multiple counts of identity theft and heroin. Sufjan raised Jonas […]

I came upon a man rigging up an electric fence next to a ditch. There were warning signs everywhere, “Beware of ditch!” “Keep children away from ditch!” “Protect loved ones from the dangers of ditch!” In addition to the signs, there were rumble strips (in some places there were upwards of 7 or 8 layers […]

My friend Benny is putting together a baseball team. But he’s going about it all wrong. His team is comprised of a bunch of misfits, and their “field” looks like a dilapidated abandoned lot. The fact that Benny’s team and field LOOK shabby, silly, and small is bad enough, but on top of that – […]

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you […]

Have you ever observed how the life of Joseph (son of Jacob) is a lot like the life of Andy Dufresne? Both were wrongfully accused Both were imprisoned because of alleged crimes against women Both exhibited patience, shrewdness, and perseverance over a period of many years in prison Both enriched the lives of others while […]

No Christian and, indeed, no historian could accept the epigram which defines religion as “what a man does with his solitude.” It was one of the Wesleys, I think, who said that the New Testament knows nothing of solitary religion. We are forbidden to neglect the assembling of ourselves together. Christianity is already institutional in […]

May I read you a few lines from Tolstoy’s War and Peace? When Boris entered the room, Prince Andrey was listening to an old general, wearing his decorations, who was reporting something to Prince Andrey, with an expression of soldierly servility on his purple face. “Alright. Please wait!” he said to the general, speaking in Russian […]

I was walking around Marlwood this morning listening to my friend Paul talk’n. Here’s some stuff Paul said that resonated with me and rung true… “Stop asking God to bless what you’re doing. Find out what God’s doing. It’s already blessed.” “Feelings are much stronger than thoughts. We are all led by instinct, and our […]