I credit several people with my tattoo. First Katae, who made the whole thing happen and gave me a forever birthday gift. Next my husband, who puts up with this manifestation of a midlife crisis. My daughter Tory, whose trip to the parlor (do they call it that anymore?) got us talking about matching tattoos. …
Tag: God
To You. From the Turkey
This Thanksgiving, stop. Halt the cooking, put your flour-dusted, pumpkin-splattered ear up to the knobby pink mountain of white meat and listen. As you scoop your third helping of baked marshmallows with a dab of sweet potatoes, and your nether regions fuse to the chair, take note. When your uncle walks in wearing a Make …
The Things I Carry
"What's it like, being dead?" "...I don't know, I guess it's like being inside a book that nobody's reading." - From Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. This quote bowled me over. Not just because it's a fresh look at death, but because it captures my feelings. While I'm writing I Trespass, I'm "inside a …
Luke’s Missions Trip 2017
Every summer since he was eight years old Luke's gone on a short-term missions trip to an Indian reservation. This particular missions trip is so physically exhausting that most people (myself included) can't hack it a second time around. Sleep deprivation, strenuous and sweltering construction, and mosquitoes of apocalyptic proportions are what you sign on …
Book Review: The Bible
Title: The Holy Bible Authors: 40+ men over 1500 years Genre: Non-fiction Publisher: God Release Date: 1535 Pages: 1,200ish Simply filling out the specs I'm picking a fight. My choice to label The Bible non-fiction communicates: Ignorance to secular scientists (Gah! Join the 21st century!) Intolerance to other religions (god wrote our book too) Combativeness to atheists (your god is what's …
Don’t Forget the Little Car Accidents
I like telling you about my car accidents. The slaps of fate, I consider my teachers. So when life smacks me down and I taste the dirt, my natural response is to share what it tasted like. This isn't new. My very first attempt at voluntary writing (age nine) was an apology to the Almighty …
The One Feared is the One Revered
I don't want to be worshipped-- I want to terrify. My rival covets worship, but I've never been so inclined. You could say between the two of us, I'm the humble one. And between the two of us, I'm the one providing a service: I scare you, don't I? Scare you into looking before you …
M is for Missionaries
My sister and her husband have never been what you'd call traditional. For starters they were married on the Appalacian Trail-- during their thru-hike. Heather had real flowers woven into a crown, and the new couple walked under an arch of brightly colored hiking staffs, held up by the many friends they made along the …
J is for Jesus
J has to be for Jesus because He's a game-changer. I used to think Bible thumpers were either 1. freaks or 2. recently lobotomized. It didn't help that my first lesson on organized religion was Jim Jones and his deadly Kool-Aide. I thought that feeling or showing any zeal for god would land me square …
The Thanksgetting Holiday
Abe Lincoln gave us our country, whole and emancipated. He gave us debate (along with Douglas). He gave us a war and saw it through to the end, at which time he decided that some purposeful, focused gratitude was in order. Although Lincoln's religious leanings seem pendulous, his moral compass was true. As his election …
KL Griffiths 