My Wandering Pen. Blog Thoughts.
"Not all those who wander are lost."– J.R.R. Tolkein
The woman who sits across from me at church…
There is a woman who sits across the sanctuary from me every Sunday morning at church. She reminds me of my mother when I was a child. Her hair is auburn and naturally curly. She has it cut short, in layers ending a little below her chin, but she wears it feathered...
When dying is beautiful
I wish you could have seen it--the mountains surrounding my home. They were breathtaking (I struggle for a better word) this morning. Golden and rust colored mounds swollen with pigment, giving off the warmest glow. Shafts of light breaking through the sky,...
On Wasted Time
The leaves on the trees outside my picture window are trembling on their branches. Every so often their trembling turns violent as a gust of wind rushes through, causing some to lose their moorings, and slender trunks to bend and sway under the wind’s pressure. The...
When he didn't have to…A 9/11 Tribute Story
Of course we were going to do a Memorial WOD today. On the thirteenth anniversary of 9/11, what else would a good crossfit box do? I knew the structure of the workout before I walked into class this morning: there was a 2001 meter run (or row) at the beginning of the...
New Things
I am sitting at my desk. It is in front of a large picture window in my back living room. George Winston Radio is playing on Pandora behind me. I just created the station on my phone. I hope it turns out to be a good station for my writing time.Because this is my new...
Smelling the Grass…Football, Superman & my Son
This morning my oldest son began two-a-day practices for the 2014 football season. I dropped him off at school—around back on the lower level closest to the locker rooms—at 7:20 a.m. The sun had barely climbed over the mountains, long shadows covered the freshly...
Slow Church: A Review
Last year in this very season, after moving to Roanoke and collapsing the last box, our family began the dreaded work of finding a new church home. Most people call this process “church shopping,” and I would have used this term, too, except that I’d done enough...
A letter to my grandfathers: Remembering D-Day 70 years later
This is a re-post from last year on D-Day. It is a reflection of my time with Superman two springs ago in France, when we visited the Beaches of Normandy. It was written as a letter to my grandfathers--both WWII vets--one serving on the Pacific front and the other on...
On Trees…. On Time…. On Rest
It is another Sabbath morning (the one 3 days ago) with my alarm set to my usual early wake up time. Despite the intended purpose of the day, I am still striving to steal away the most quiet time will allow me, knowing the process of waking up to enjoy it will be a...
On baby leaves, learning of peace, & writing to find the holy
It's been too long since I've last written--horrible inconsistency. But even in the craziness of my days, I've been tucking away moments, so anxious to share my little scraps of holy with you. I blog for many reasons, but as of late when I think of blogging, I’m...
Sharing my Mother's Day Present with You
I am working on a different blog post to share with you—hopefully later this week. These days preparing something worthy of your reading time takes weeks rather of days. But I wanted to share with you the poem my second son put in his card to me this Mother’s Day. No,...
Book Proposals, Writing Festivals, & the Miracle of Process
I'm home from Calvin's Festival of Faith and Writing and blogging about my time over at the Redbud Writer's Guild blog. I hope you'll join me and see what wonders God has been up to lately. 🙂 I don’t have to speak to publishers at this festival. No one is...
A wrap-up of 2014 reading thus far…
Can you believe it? The first quarter of 2014 is already drawing itself closed. Since I’ve already proven haphazard with my book reviews (one official—title and all—in January and a myriad of personal reflections over one early in March), and since I’ve been agonizing...
What happens when birds sing in a snowstorm?
Yesterday it snowed in the Virginia mountains…again. Never could I have imagined living south of the Mason-Dixon line and having to endure so much snow. I guess that just goes to show that: a) I don’t have a very big imagination (or sense for weather patterns in...
Tree Limbs, Image Bearing, and Crying over CrossFit
Friday, I spent a fair portion of my day in tears. Not because I was delivered some horrific news about a loved one. Not because I have a wayward child or a crumbling marriage. I spent the day crying because I couldn’t figure out how to get my toes to touch the bar...
Playing Track Coach & Our Six Day Miracle
Last week I played track coach for my second son. His school was on spring break but his coaches thought better than to give the kids a week off running, too. Since Superman and I are good obsessive sports parents, and since all I needed was a tiny excuse to add some...
A word on literary affairs, time online, & making culture
I confess. I’ve been cheating on you. Mostly with Dostoevsky’s Karamazov boys, but The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard (a 2nd time round) and Culture Making by Andy Crouch have also stolen my affections. I won’t lie, it’s been great. After my sister and toddling...
Building Stones of Remembrance
I know…Things have been rather quiet here In These Shoes. The funny thing is, these shoes haven’t been quiet at all! In fact, my shoes have been quite busy, especially my snow boots and my slippers. Two weeks ago to the day, my sister and toddling nephew came to...
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