Life is a great mystery, and we have many questions.
Especially we wonder about evil and suffering.
Why? Why? Why?
Category Archives: Stories and Excerpts
These Are the Glory Days: Beginning Eternity Now
Back in the 80’s a favorite worship song of mine—and of just about everyone I knew—was “You Are My Hiding Place” by Michael Ledner.
How To Be Free: Let God Be God
If you want to be free, begin by having a God who is free. Let Him be free to do whatever He wants. He’s going to anyway, whether you like it or not, so you might as well give Him your blessing.
Easter Dawn: Three Poems for Easter
Three poems celebrating Christ’s Easter victory over death. He is risen! Alleluia!
Good Friday: A Poem by Christina Rossetti
The speaker in Rossetti’s poem feels like a stone for being unable to properly grieve the suffering and death of Christ.
The Real Santa Claus: A Christmas Parable
This one’s not in my book Twenty-One Candles: Stories for Christmas because it was written later. Merry Christmas, everybody!
Christmas in El Salvador, 1981
An American priest visited a displaced persons’ refuge in El Salvador in 1981 and wrote the following reflection. It could just as easily apply today to a migrant camp in Lebanon or a bomb shelter in Ukraine.
God’s Quiet Time: Practicing the Presence of You
I begin with a story by musician Steve Bell, who for some time had been asking God the question, “Who are You?” Eventually the Lord answered—not in words but in an experience. Steve writes:
Delighting in God: Catherine Doherty on Joy
Catherine Doherty is a writer I’ve kept returning to for four decades, ever since I read her wonderful book Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude, and Prayer.
I Like Youngsters: Revisiting Michel Quoist
I’ve been enjoying a book that was a big bestseller back in the 1960’s: Prayers by Michel Quoist.