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 …
Tag: Jesus
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 …
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 …
Be the Gift You Want to Get in This World
Of all the people turned off by Christians, Gandhi is my favorite. Gandhi was perplexed that Jesus' followers were little crazed antitheses of Him, buzzing about the world scattering judgement like pollen, condemning, wearing the cross and forgetting its dictates. Though he was turned off by Christians, Gandhi didn't discount the Man himself. Imitation is …
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 …
12 Days of Christmas: Extraterrestrial Giving
By extraterrestrial giving, I don't mean giving to aliens. Extra is latin for outside-of, and teres means circular or round. In honor of the twelve days of Christmas, it seemed a good idea to commit to giving twelve gifts outside my usual sphere, to do twelve acts that would make God smile. If you show love …
Continue reading 12 Days of Christmas: Extraterrestrial Giving
A Rip-Your-Arm-Out Moment
I want to talk about the paralytic wake of failure, those moments right after we've been dealt a blow. Failure is most bitter when we expect greatness. If I were to run a marathon tomorrow, I'd fail, but it wouldn't be a blow because I expect a body that sputters through a 5K to have …
The Downside of Being God, A Soldier, A Car Salesman
Raise your hand if you want to be honored today, Memorial Day. I don't want to be honored because I don't want to be dead yet. Neither did the ones we honor. Most didn't intend to die, either when they signed on or in the moment. Most hoped they could serve their country, come home, …
Continue reading The Downside of Being God, A Soldier, A Car Salesman
KL Griffiths 