just enough light

He hadn’t counted on the old man dying that fall. Henry was putting a truck tire on a rim when his heart gave out as suddenly as a blowout on a tire. Henry Junior was called out of English class with the news. It took a few anguishing days for Henry’s heart to finally give […]

When childhood enthusiasm gave way to the longer legs and awkwardness of adolescence, Henry Junior stopped jumping up and down and enticing passengers to wave. He stopped running from one end of the yard to the other. He stopped counting. Instead, he put his hands in his pockets and simply watched. He knew the southbound […]

He has always been Henry Junior. Not Henry, not Hank, not Junior. Henry Junior since the first moments of his life. His parents, Henry and Alice, came into parenthood late. By the time their son came along, most of their friends had a station wagon full of kids. Some were even young grandparents. The long […]

(This is part I of “A short story in 5 parts.” I hope you enjoy it. Unless you were seated on the left side of the northbound coach, looking out the window at just the right moment, you’d miss him. He’s just a silhouette against the snow, a bulky figure, here and gone in a […]

Competition for “Best Christian Politician” has begun. In our local elections, Christian humility is busily elbowing its way to the front of the line. The dizzying mixture of Christianity and conservative politics makes “America First” seem indistinguishable from “Seek first the kingdom of God.” On television, in the mail, and in the newspaper, the ads […]

When a Christian leader argues that evangelicals “have a moral obligation to enthusiastically back” President Trump, we Christians should run fast and far away from that leader. That is the argument Ralph Reed, founder of Faith and Freedom Coalition, makes in his upcoming book, For God and Country: The Christian case for Trump. The recent adoration […]

The parable of the Good Samaritan was one of the suggested texts from the church lectionary this past Sunday. Most churchgoers know the story from Luke’s gospel of the unlikely helper of the guy who was attacked, beaten, and left for dead in the ditch. “Who is my neighbor?” is the question raised by this […]

I watched a man help a woman identify which stop she needed as the DFW Skylink moved from terminal to terminal. The woman was Asian, 40ish, carrying two large bags. Not suitcases, but handled bags with handles tied to keep things in. It became clear to me that she did not speak much English and […]

Someone (who will remain nameless) pointed out to me that my posts during the 6 weeks of Lent were not particularly religious, with very little mention of God or Jesus, and no reference to the resurrection. Guilty as charged. The reasons are difficult to explain, but important. I came from a religious tradition that promoted […]

During Lent I have been reading Parker Palmer’s On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old. Early in the book Parker quotes St. Benedict, “Daily keep your death before your eyes.” This may sound like morbid advice, but the intention is anything but morbid. We are admonished to remember our impermanence and the […]