A Silent Blog Means . . .

I’m completing homework. I’m cooking food. Actual meals. Occasionally. My sister is visiting and I’m staying up too late solving the problems of the world. I’m learning about the needs of Brazil’s children and how I might be able to help. I’m writing and revising a memoir. Well, that’s homework. I’m listening to Miles Davis. Also homework. I’m reading poetry....

Why Teach?

This extended quotation is from Dr. Howard Hendricks in his book Teaching to Change Lives. Years ago I took part in a Sunday school convention at Moody Memorial Church in Chicago. During a lunch break, three of us who were teaching at the convention walked across the street to a little hamburger shop. The place was filled, but soon a table for four opened up. We saw an elderly lady whom we knew was attending the...

THE JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE

I’m an English major and I’ve recently been studying the benefits of reading the Bible as literature. That sounds strange, doesn’t it? But we don’t always think of the Bible as literature. We forget this human element of the sacred. We’ve become so accustomed to reading the Bible in bits and pieces that we forget that it really is One Story. A Bible teacher once commented, “You...

My Number Ten

My eight year-old son, Jesse, is playing organized basketball for the first time this year. I’ve always loved watching sports and I’m Jesse’s biggest fan, so I knew I would enjoy watching his games even if he mostly sat on the bench. But he doesn’t sit on the bench. He starts, which in his own words means, “when the game STARTS, I’ll be playing!” He plays tough defense and...

Why I Love Aquamarine

Being a teenager is kind of like living in a communist country. Have I mentioned that? Communication within said communist country is severely limited. No messages are allowed in. Few messages are allowed out. The regime (teenage queen bees or any other group of friends) cuts you off from all other sources of influence until you forget you are living in a world bigger than the small area of your immediate...