Leaving Salem

More than 120 years ago this week, Vincent Van Gogh died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. In his short life, Van Gogh produced hundreds of watercolor paintings, sketches, and prints – some of which are the most valued in the world – now fetching tens of millions of dollars at auctions or private sales.…

When my family moved into our new home I promised my wife I would clean up the backyard. The yard wasn’t dirty; it was just unruly. The previous owners had left the environment in its natural state, a bit too uncultivated for rambunctious, exploring children like ours. “Don’t worry about it,” I told her as…

Larry Walters was a thirty-three-year-old truck driver living inLong Beach,California. On a warm July morning he visited his local army surplus store and purchased for himself 42 huge weather balloons. With the help of some friends, he filled those balloons with helium and attached them to an aluminum lawn chair. He then grabbed a peanut…

“Love thy neighbor” is wonderful as a heavenly theory. But it is hell on wheels to practice. Oh, it sounds good, but when you start thinking about the implications of what this means, it is hard to swallow. Sure, loving “people” is easy. We will all do what we can do for the common good.…

Those of you who are parents have probably said something like the following to your children: “There is nothing you can do to make me stop loving you.” If we haven’t spoken those words to a child, many of us have heard them from our own mom or dad. Such a statement is a beautiful…

Almost as well known as the cross of Christ, was his occupation. Jesus was a carpenter. In fact, he spent far more of his earthly years with a tape measure in his hand rather than a Bible. His preparatory school was not a seminary but more like a saw mill. This does not mean Jesus…

Not long after I moved to the beach I stopped by my favorite coffee shop. I had visited this café often while on vacation over the years, but I was now visiting it as a local. The early spring sun was shining across the emerald water, and the gulf breeze was blowing warm. On this…

A mammoth auditorium. Multiple projection screens. Thousands of dollars in sound, video, and lighting equipment. A stage larger than most middle class homes, and more greenery and floral arrangements than you would find at a Home Depot garden center. And outside there was four acres of black-topped asphalt. The only thing that distinguished this place…

“I don’t read that article by Ronnie McBrayer,” I heard a critic say not long ago; a critic who did not know I was within earshot. “He thinks the Bible is just a bunch of stories.” Just a bunch of stories? There is no such thing as “just a story.” Stories are the explanation for…

He is six to fifteen feet tall. He weighs in excess of five hundred pounds. He is covered in dark brown or dark reddish hair. He is reported to have a strong, unpleasant smell. The people of Australia call him the Yowie. The Chinese call him Yeren. In Indonesia he goes by the name Orang…

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