I grew up in a very traditional family. My father was a veteran of WW II and was a blue collar worker. My mom, a new Christian, worked extra hours to put the four of us children through Christian schools. My father had high expectations of me, the only boy, but they were based on … More Sins of the Father
LOVE IS A LIFETIME Young people don’t know What love is. They think they know But what they see is passion, or the shadow of love Or the promise of love. Passion is a pinch of black powder set off with a match. It’s there and it’s gone. It doesn’t depend on anything … More In Honor of Valentine’s Day
The longer I write, the more time I seem to take before I actually start putting words on paper. That time is spent running through the storyline time and again, trying to get what happens straight in my head. It’s important for me. Some writers talk about sitting down the day after the finish their … More The Bare Bones of Storytelling
“This is the place,” Irene said. She set down the basket heavily in front of me. “Are you sure?” I said, looking around us. The wide riverbed spread out in front of us, large round river stones scattered like so many baby skulls tossed around by some careless giant to bleach white in the hot Texas sun. … More “Crossing the River”
I hate hospitals. I hate doctors. And yet, here I sit in a hospital waiting room, standing watch as my wife of 39 years goes through surgery. It is a helpless feeling, a situation in which my wife and I know that even though it is a relatively routine surgery, it still involves general anesthetic. … More The Biggest Lie of All
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story by Donald Miller. Thomas Nelson, 2009. 257 pages. A couple of weeks ago, the University library asked me to put together a list of five books that I would recommend to students. One of those books was Blue Like Jazz … More Review: “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller
It’s been 20 years since my father passed away, but I still dream about him. I can read all kinds of Freudian interpretation into that fact, such as my mind seeing his image as a manifestation of my own manhood. But the fact still remains that he is still in my thoughts. My relationship with … More Those Who Went Before
It wasn’t life. I had given up on life a long time ago. It was existence—barely. I took no notice of my gray, pallid, flaking skin, my putrefied face and hair, my black nails or the thick, black fluid that oozed from the sores that covered my thin body. I was only dimly aware of … More “Pinocchio”
I just got finished watching “A Thousand Words,” a movie featuring Eddie Murphy. The story is about a book agent who develops a psychic connection to a mysterious tree. He discovers that for every word that he says–or even writes–a leaf falls from the tree. He determines–with the help of a holy man–that when the … More A Thousand Words
When I was just a little shaver, time and time again my mother would pull me aside and tell me, “You are special, and God has something special He wants you to do with your life.” I grew up believing this, wondering what that special thing was that God wanted me to do. I went … More How to Know God’s Will
The Great Adventure 