Thin Places

New Post on the Park Forum, relating the thief on the cross to Hospice care in America’s prisons: click here.

If you haven’t had a chance to read through the comments on last week’s post on adoption, I commend them to you. If you are one of the people who contributed to that conversation, thank you. You’ve helped me to clarify some of my own thinking on the issue, and you’ve prompted further reflection. So…

I would like to have another biological child, and can argue that the desire is good. Children are a gift from God, after all (See Psalm 127:3). And yet, there are millions of orphans in the world. And over and over again, Biblical writers urge those of us who follow God to take care of…

New post on The Park Forum: The Value of Life

I love order. It brings me great peace to clear the dining room table, to put away folded laundry, to gather all the items strewn upon the floor in the front hall and restore them to their proper place. If I had more time, everything in our house would be orderly. As it is, I…

“For in paradise, before his sin, man could not, it is true, do everything; but he could do whatever he wished, just because he did not want to do whatever he could not do…” St. Augustine, City of God, Book XIV, Chapter 15

It’s a refrain these days, “Penny, I am proud of you.” I say it when she walks out of school with her thumbs up, an indication that she has made “good choices” today (this after a few days of bad choices, which included yellow paint smeared across her new white shirt, in her hair, on…

New post on The Park Forum, “The Way Out of Grief.”

I suppose it is a right of passage for kids. Penny has come into the stage of asking “why?” about everything. A quick example: “Where’s Dad?” “At work.” “Why?” “Because he goes to work in the morning.” “Why?” “Because he likes to teach.” “Why?” And on it goes, until I give up. As tedious as…

Peter and I have a running debate. He calls me a pessimist. I respond by saying I’m a realist. Sometimes, he’s willing to grant me that title. And it’s easy enough for me to respond to the world realistically when it comes to making mundane personal decisions. For instance, someone will ask us if we…

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