It is the first time I’ve driven up the long driveway leading to the monastery. For years I’ve imagined visiting, but life’s busyness never allowed the time. Now I am desperate for quiet. The desire to escape is strong—much like my childhood desire for invisibility to avoid my father’s bullying. With a lull in life’s […]
Hollywood Jesus
I saw Jesus in Hollywood many times over the course of my decade working there. And most of them were surprises. And mysteries. For me, Jesus is like a puzzle I’ve been assembling since youth. I know I don’t have the whole picture yet, but the few pieces that have come together thrill me. Did […]
Waddling toward Jerusalem
There are two ways of viewing the idea of sacrifice in human culture. One is a selfless gift or a waiver of gratification. The other involves a taking of life for personal gain. [Read More]
The Mysteries of Flight and Females
There was a time when I would fly quite regularly. Since I don’t have wings I’d use an airplane. I understand the concept of lift, but it still baffles me that a hunk of metal weighing tons will fly. Simply amazing, really. And I can understand how putting the tray in the locked position for […]
Unmoored Souls: A Review of Moorings by Nancy Slavin
The epic travels of birds on their annual migrations once prompted a group of ornithologists to observe what happened as migration season approached, not to birds in the wild, but to captives. While their free brothers and sisters flew off to their winter homes, the caged birds became agitated, even when kept in a climate-controlled […]
Christmas for All Mankind
We all have our favorite Christmas films, the ones that stir good cheer and remind us of family and home. But what of Advent, the season that culminates in that celebration? What films capture the painful waiting, struggle for peace, and desperation for change that often accompany this period before the joy? Alfonso Cuarón’s violent, R-rated Children of Men (2006) […]
A Martha Stewart Holiday
“Good evening and Welcome to my Inn. I’m Martha Stewart. There’s nothing quite as satisfying to me as preparation for a holiday.” [Read More]
A Review of “I’m Samson,” Said Sydney by Gregory Zschomler, illustrated by April Bullard
My two-year-old daughter, Luthien, and I enjoyed sharing the adventures of Sydney, a little boy with a big imagination. With his admiring father as his audience, he transforms his six-year-old self into Samson, the biblical strongman, and his toys become the fierce beasts and armies Samson defeats. All the while beaming approval of Sydney’s exploits, […]
I Believe in Santa
Hi, my name is Greg. I’m fifty-five years old and I believe in Santa Claus. Some would say this is delusional. Some would say it’s time I grew up. But, let me explain: It all began when I was a child growing up in Vancouver. My parents blatantly propagated Santa’s existence (some would say they […]
Politics and Generation Y
As of 2012, the estimated population of Americans belonging to the so-called “millennial” or Generation Y numbered around 80 million, making those born between the mid-1980’s and late 1990’s approach one-third of the total population. Of these 80 million, only 41.2 percent that were of voting age bothered to cast a ballot in the 2012 national elections, according to the Census Bureau’s 2012 Voting Report. As a member of this generation and a friend or colleague of many who abstained, I can hardly blame them.
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