Author’s note: this is the third in a series of reflections written as letters to my mom, but you can insert your name here, too. I hope to highlight some of the events and insights I have had since moving…

“Be more specific,” I used to tell my writing students. “Don’t say cereal when you could say Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Don’t say your character walked into the room when you could say he sauntered in. Don’t say you were reading…

Once upon a time I lived in the country of Chile for six months. It was quite a long time ago, during my junior year of college. There was a short list of Spanish minor requirements that would be met…

This past Saturday morning, I attended a workshop at The Colossian Forum's annual conference. The workshop was titled Beyond Good Intentions: The Practices of Calm Presence. The presenter, Trisha Taylor, has been a coach to me and a friend for…

The recent movie Yesterday is mostly a light-hearted romantic comedy with a divertingly fun premise.  Although the movie (wisely) never tries to explain it, the premise is that the entire Planet Earth underwent a history-altering event.  For around eleven seconds,…

Author’s note: this is the second in a series of reflections written as letters to my mom, but you can insert your name here, too. I hope to highlight some of the events and insights I have had since moving…

“Is this the end of the world?”“It usually is.” That zinger appears near the conclusion of the kooky and wonderful Post-Rapture Radio, Russell Rathbun’s 2008 novel, which inventively satirizes American Evangelicalism for its shallowness and materialism. Toward the end of…

It's not a particularly good picture, but it'll have to do. That's our house up at the top, maybe fifty yards or so away from the camera and me. What's between us is five years' worth of sweat and toil…