As an adolescent I thought that I would gladly take less free will if people would be more kind to one another. Surely, I thought, we could do without man’s inhumanity to man and still be roughly ourselves. Why would God allow all this freedom to...
Wherever I go in the whole world, the thing that makes me the saddest is watching people receive Communion in the hand. Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta I think regularly about this quote when I encounter someone talking apocalyptically. That...
When I was in college, I coined the phrase “the Led Zeppelin Effect” to describe a type of imitation that irritated me. It’s quite true that Zeppelin’s sound is imitative of the best of blues, folk, and roots music, but they are competent musicians...
Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later that debt is paid. ~Jared Harris as Valery Legasov in Chernobyl My father’s family is a long line of yarn-spinners. They love good stories, funny stories, and thoughtful verbal...
My mind sometimes wanders back to losses. Some people make their love a contest that I am destined to lose. Some drink enough alcohol that they cause pain they don’t even remember. People wander off or stomp off. One of the most devastating losses...
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was...
Michele Bachmann made headlines several years ago by stating a simple truth that Christians had agreed upon for around 2,000 years. Naturally that makes it controversial in modern America. The quote, “The Lord says be submissive. Wives, you are to...
I never thought I would miss Muzak. It turns out, though, that I would rather not listen to Adele being overwrought while I’m picking up laundry detergent and pickles. Don’t get me wrong; I like some of Adele’s music. I also believe there to be a...
