A Time to Laugh

Healing from intense and pervasive trauma — whether from cancer or rape or earthquake or war — comes as you learn to call yourself a “survivor.” It’s a rhetorical move away from “victim.” When a victim can describe herself as a “survivor,” she:
no longer feels possessed by her traumatic past; she is in possession of [...]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Happy Birthday, Honey! You are missed! I can’t wait to kiss my darlin’ again!

I’ve been meaning to tell this story too. This is a little earthy, so if you’re uncomfortable with stuff and would rather assume I’m just a immaterial blog on a screen, skip this post. I won’t be hurt.
I hate doctors. I do. I was trying to explain this to my G.P. the other day, but [...]

But when you hear and accept this it is not your power, but God’s grace, that renders the Gospel fruitful in you, so that you believe that you and your works are nothing. For you see how few there are who accept it, so that Christ weeps over Jerusalem and, as now the Papists are [...]

What a strange bunch of contrasts.
We took my youngest to the hospital for grunting-while-breathing, and within 24-hours after the IV antibiotics he was playing “Punch Out” with the Get Well balloon my parents brought him.
That hospital trip — like any other, I’m sure — moved from soul-sucking boredom to tearful panic. And during that ebb [...]

I know it took me forever to complete. I’m trying not to hyperfocus on that. Trying, but often failing. So I’ll tell the whole story again to distract me.
When our daughter Elise was born (still) in 2001, I was so out-of-my-mind overwhelmed that I didn’t bring any clothes for her to the hospital. The gentle [...]

It’s been eight years since we said goodbye to our Elise. I still get anxious as June comes to an end. I get urpy when the starry bunting goes up for sale. I still feel wistful when we watch the fireworks in uncomfortable lawn chairs. It still feels like someone’s missing.
I still try to make [...]

I used to have a dachshund named Burke, and Kenneth Burke used to punningly refer to himself as Kennel Bark. Sometimes, visiting Burke the man, when I was accompanied by Burke the dog, I would yell at the dog and the man would answer. This marvelous self-irony is similar to Burke’s capacity to say that [...]

My favorite family story of all time is the story of how God brought us all to Him. My favorite re-telling of this story was just after our Elise was born (still). We had all just said good-bye to her — held her, sang her lullabies, admired her perfect features — and my epidural was [...]

The gospel of justifying faith means that while Christians are, in themselves still sinful and sinning, yet in Christ, in God’s sight, they are accepted and righteous. So we can say that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope — at [...]