Christianity
All About “Becoming”: An Interview with Linda Boulanger
Today, I’ve invited Linda Boulanger to visit me in my virtual living room, to talk about her latest book Becoming, which is a collection of inspirational, faith-based short-short stories. Hi, Linda. Hi, Tim! Becoming starts with a story about a young woman whose father bails her out of jail, which will inevitably have political repercussions [...]
Wearing Haman’s Hat
This past Saturday night began the Jewish holiday of Purim. Since Saturday was also the Sabbath, after morning services and lunch at our synagogue, we had games for the kids, crafts, a class on the book of Esther, a Jewish folk dancing class, pizza. Then we had evening services, followed by reading the story of [...]
Christian Fiction, What’s Wrong with It?
Sunday, a friend of mine in church was wearing a T-shirt from a band I didn’t recognize. I asked, “Who are they? Is that a Christian band?” “Well,” he said, “they’re a bunch of Christians who are in a band, but they’re not a Christian band.” I understood immediately. “Like I’m a Christian who writes [...]
Shoeboxes Full of Gifts
Yes, maybe Thanksgiving Comes First, but in this case, we actually do need to get started on the Christmas stuff early. This year, as last, my church is participating in Operation Christmas Child, an annual charity drive conducted by Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse. Each year before Thanksgiving, Samaritan’s Purse collects wrapped shoeboxes, each packed with [...]
The Psychology of Worship Music
Isn’t it amazing, with the amount of time we as Christians spend in worship, and especially singing in worship, that we understand so little about it. This thought strikes me now, just a couple nights away from the next “In the Deep” (Saturday night, at which I’ll be subbing on bass, because their usual bassist [...]
When Nothing Goes the Way It Ought
This past week, I asked on Facebook, “When NOTHING seems to be going as it should, how do you avoid getting all negative?” My Facebook friends gave me a number of possible answers, but nothing really hit home, this past Saturday morning in synagogue when we read a selection from First Samuel chapter 1. Suddenly, [...]
This is Peace!
I wasn’t going to put up another blog post today, but this little tidbit about friendships blew me away. And so I had to post it, and I had to post it now, and this is the right place to post it, so here it is. Even if you’re not religious, I hope you find [...]
Gilmores, Blocks, and Judging a Book by Its Cover
Recently, a friend commented on her little one’s first day of school. Must have been preschool. The little tyke was so excited, she was up and ready by 8:15 in the morning. For me, though, this week, the Missus is on staycation (except 2 mornings she needs to go in and catch up on work—she’s [...]
7 Reasons More Worship Bassists Should Listen to WSRS
I don’t think I’ve ever written before about playing bass, which is kind of strange, because I’ve been playing bass ever since I just picked up a friend’s on a whim back in 1986-ish and started jamming. (I’ve been playing other instruments for much longer than that, since the 1970′s.) Today, I play most Sundays [...]
Would I Run? (If you’ve read this viral email…)
An old friend of the family forwarded a viral email that asks the question “Would you run?” I’ll tell you how I answered it, but first let me reprint the relevant part of the email. Imagine this happening to you… One Sunday morning service, a 2,000 member congregation was surprised to see two men enter, [...]