A Time to Laugh

So I do know this — that the grace that justifies is the same grace that sanctifies. I know that much in my head.
But understanding what that really means takes me a lot longer. I need to hear it over and over and over. In different ways. Lots of different ways.
And it still surprises me.
So [...]

From the moment we stepped into other-than-fundamental churches, we’ve heard about grace. Not just grace at justification that saves us from hell fire, but grace at sanctification that keeps us close to God and growing in Him. A grace that is not earned — like a boss who passes out merit badges for my meeting [...]

It was our first elder ordination. I knew the man being ordained. His little girl. And his wife. I don’t want to gush too much because I might embarrass her (she reads here occasionally), but she is the “salt of the Earth” kind of person. The kind of friend you hope to find in a [...]

Maybe you know the story of Scotland’s most famous hero of the Faith, John Knox. I didn’t. All I know about Scotland came from Lucy Ricardo’s visit in 1956 and our West Highland Terrier.
The guy was a stinker! He was a Catholic priest, a lawyer, a teacher, and George Wishart’s body guard who led Knox [...]

When we left our previous life, two arbitrary things got quilted together:  (1) my blogging and (2) Grant’s singing. Because of my activity online (pre-October 16, 2007), Grant was no longer allowed to sing solos at our church. This was simply punitive — one unwarranted, unprovoked, painful action against Grant that was virtually unrelated to [...]

I’ve been keeping a running tally over the last several months because it’s usually the case that Grant and I sit agape during church. Our collective jaws drop, we nudge each other, point and nod and giggle, and then I scribble and he iPhone-taps it all down so that we can remember.
This Message outside of [...]

The Book of Remembrance
Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up [...]

But even in my re-telling this wanting-to-be-forgotten story, it’s revealing to find the persistent theme: God gave me good roots. Grant was my ally. He reassured and loved on me. My brother, too, was a reliable friend — honest but gentle. My dad was also a rock — ever the cheerleader.
But who was there reading, [...]

You know what they say: when you have a hammer, everything becomes a nail. Well, when you have a blog, everything becomes a blog post.
In reading all this stuff from the 70s-80s-and-90s iteration of conservative Evangelicalism, I’ve had more than a few demons to exorcise. And one I’ve been intentionally avoiding talking about here. I [...]

If you caught my Ebenezer series (which ended with this final post), you’d be interested to know that the final chapter, removed from my book under threat of termination, is now published in this month’s Kenneth Burke Journal under the title, “Publish and Perish?: My Fundamentalist Education from the Inside Out.” It includes an explanation [...]