I’m not very good at chess. Never have been. And I’ll never be a good player because I can’t give that much of myself to one thing. But I adore the game. I can see the savage beauty of it. Yes, savage. In chess there is no escaping the power of… Read full post »

Once I opened my eyes during a prayer in church and saw a man picking his nose. I mean REALLY picking it. Digging deep for whatever he was hoping to find there. As if she sensed something, his wife opened her eyes and turned to look at him. I watched her… Read full post »

Back in the early 90s, a man named John was a member of our church. He was a professional man, with a wife and two sons. Sam was in high school, and Teddy was in middle school. Both boys played football. His wife Allison was beautiful and very involved with a… Read full post »

I’m alone this morning, and I’m wondering some things.

The roles I play in the world are strong, powerful, and demanding. They require much of me. Perhaps all of me. If these roles were gone, what would be left?

What if I wasn’t Real Live Preacher? What if I wasn’t that… Read full post »

Note: If you don't know anything about church history and the reformer, Martin Luther, you should read A Short History of Martin Luther by my 16-year-old daughter before you read this essay. Come to think of it, you should read the thing by my daughter… Read full post »

As told by my 16-year-0ld daughter.

Okay, uh, the thing is that a long time ago - I don’t know when but a LONG time ago - there was nothing but Catholics. I mean, in the church. Of course there were lots of other kinds of people and stuff,… Read full post »

When Foy’s mother was very old, long after his father had died, Foy asked her if she believed in God. He had always wondered about that but for some reason had never gotten around to asking. It was part of the secret they shared that the question didn’t really need to… Read full post »

Part 1 of 2 (I think)

Foy Davis was born in 1960 in the small, West Texas town of Fort Davis, which lies within a triangle formed by the cities of Van Horn, Fort Stockton, and Marfa. When he was young, his father told him the town was named for Colonel… Read full post »

In 1996 some friends took me to the Hsi Lai Buddhist temple in Los Angeles. While we were there I saw something that changed me forever.
 
A major worldview shift is always terribly upsetting. Past beliefs collide with present experience like tectonic plates pushing against each other. The earth… Read full post »

There was a car accident in front of our church. I arrived just after it happened, so I pulled into the parking lot and ran over to see if anyone was hurt. A large, heavy-looking piece of iron pipe was on the ground near a pickup truck. It was about the… Read full post »

I got nothing.
 
It’s not writer’s block. I have my computer file with all of my works in progress. There are currently 16 pieces in various stages of completion. Two or three are almost done. When I want to write I generally scroll through them until one starts interesting me.… Read full post »

I ate a whole can of olives the other day. Is that bad? It doesn't seem bad. They're fruit, right? I've never heard anyone refer to olives as fruit, but they're plants and plants are generally good for you. They are very salty, which I think might not be good. Salt… Read full post »

So here’s what you do. You take a phrase or a word or a short teaching out of the Bible. Something like “The book of life,” or “The Son of Man,” or “The Light of the World,” or “No one comes to the Father but by me.” These phrases could mean… Read full post »

I will never know exactly what Jesus said, how he said whatever he did say, or what he meant when he said whatever he said in whatever way he said it.

You see my problem.

What I have are the tattered words, songs, and gospel remnants from twenty centuries of people… Read full post »

Let me begin by saying that this is a long piece. I value brevity and clarity in writing, but this is a different kind of thing. I needed to be clear above all other considerations. Let me also say that I have no reason to think anyone outside of Christianity would… Read full post »

I wrote this piece a few years ago. The anger I felt is apparent. I suppose I should own some of the source of that anger. I was probably feeling pretty guilty about how long it took me to figure out this issue. And how long it took me to come… Read full post »

We knew something was wrong with Lillian’s eyes shortly after she was born. One of them was turned inward. We assumed it could be fixed. We thought we’d hand her over to a doctor, and he or she would fix her. The day they told us her eyes would never be… Read full post »

Human beings have always gazed with wonder at the world around us. Whatever people in the past saw was their reality. What we see now is ours.

The best instrument ancient humans had was their eyes. They lived in a flat world, a world probably no larger than a hundred miles in… Read full post »

Read part one and part two.

Sorry for the delay. I've been gone for quite some time, caught up in other writing things. Here is part three:

In the spring of 2004, the serial killer known as BTK shocked experts around the world by reappearing after what were thought to… Read full post »

The first in a three-part series on my attempts to understand profound acts of evil.

In interviews given while on death row, Ted Bundy seemed confused over the great concern about his crimes. He just didn’t get it. He couldn’t understand why so many people cared about a few… Read full post »

Is the earth ancient and are you a young child, wandering her surface and running your small hands over the bumps and buckled plates of her wisdom? Or are you the old one, tired and cynical and wise, trying to recapture your innocence by walking barefoot and kissing… Read full post »

On Monday afternoon Foy stopped by the church. Monday was his day off, but sometimes he came in anyway. He nodded at Judy who was on the phone. She smiled and raised her chin in a greeting without stopping her conversation. He went down the hall to his office and found… Read full post »