It was a dark and stormy afternoon and I was trapped in the Barnes and Noble by a thunderstorm. Ginger was on the other end of the Streets of Southpoint looking for shoes. Since I had the time, I migrated upstairs to the poetry section to see what I could see. There I found a…

I’m looking for?(Not that anyone has askedfor a word, you understand) Still – the swirl aroundthe swine flu has left melooking for a word or twowith which to respond . . . I could say somethingabout malaria, or cholera,or tuberculosis, or hunger –all bigger killers we could dosomething about, but that too quickly begins tosound…

My morning, so far, has been made upof coffee shop chatter and a pretty goodham and cheese croissant served with ancomplimentary portion of overhead disco(thank God for headphones and Patty Griffin) My afternoon will call me to the kitchento assemble a fajita bar for fifty folks whomI will not see; I will cook and then…

I just got home from a great weekend in Jackson, where I got to preach this morning at Calvary Baptist Church. Here is the sermon.__________________________ You have to wonder how soon it started. I’m guessing, even in the early church, where two or three were gathered there were two or three differing opinions. Though we…

On this, the last day of National Poetry Month, the least I can do is offer a verse of my own. vocabulary treppenwitz is a word that means“a clever remark that comes to mindwhen it is too late to utter it”(of course, you have to be speakingGerman for it to make sense) In New Guinea…

I made English muffins today for the first time since last summer. Since classes are over at Duke, my work schedule and location has changed, putting me back on the lunch shift at the Durham restaurant, and making the muffins, which are our hamburger buns. The recipe has several steps that require some attention. First,…

I’m excited because this coming weekend I’m headed to Jackson, Mississippi to help lead “A Writer’s Conference” at Calvary Baptist Church, along with Tim Sean Youmans and Justin McRoberts. If you are anywhere in the area, the conference is free and runs all day Saturday and Sunday morning. I even get to preach while I’m…

It’s one of my favorite English words. I like the way it sounds, the way my mouth has to shape itself to say it, and what it means once it’s let loose from my lips. Harbinger: an indicator of what’s coming. When I was living in Texas, I remember some of the old ranchers telling…

“Sometimes a light surprises the Christian when he sings,” wrote William Cowper. And sometimes the surprise is in the listening. I sat down in church this morning, feeling renewed after a wonderful weekend (Friday and Saturday are my weekend), one day in Chicago with our nephew and the other wandering through downtown Durham for the…

Ginger and I spent the day in Chicago on Friday. We’ve been planning it for some time. April 21st will mark our nineteenth wedding anniversary and the 23rd the twenty-first birthday of Scott, our nephew who is in school just outside of Chicago, so a joint celebration seemed appropriate. Add to the mix that we…