Observing the Wind
The cursor blinks on the white screen with a rhythmic, judgmental pulse while the dryer hums in the distance. This simple electronic heartbeat feels less like an invitation to work and more like the sheer, smooth wall of a deep pit I cannot climb out of. You can spend your whole life analyzing the wind for the perfect conditions, or you can trust the Master of the Harvest and just start sowing.
Buzzed: The Great Kazoo Crisis
The thin, nasal wail of a plastic instrument vibrates through the classroom walls like a bumblebee having a panic attack. I thought twenty-seven years of teaching had prepared me for anything, but this relentless drone is immune to logic, detention, and the sanity of the administration. It turns out the world ends not with a bang, but with a squeeze-box solo in homeroom.
Breaking the Anxiety Loop (Again)
As I type these words on a laptop with a dying battery, I recognize the familiar warning signs of a spirit running on empty. The headlines may have changed since the pandemic, but the anxiety we feel is just the same old song playing a different verse. We can continue to drain our energy on fear, or we can choose to plug into a source that actually sustains us. It all comes down to deciding which wolf you are going to feed.
Grace Has No Outdated Addresses
For years, I have been ambushed by sudden lightning bolts of shame over mistakes I made decades ago as a teenager. It feels like I am constantly answering hateful phone calls meant for a version of myself that doesn't exist anymore. I finally had to learn how to hang up on the prosecutor in my head and accept the grace I so freely give to others.
The Economics of Grace
I used to start every semester by asking my students to define economics in a single word, and they almost always got it wrong. We often make the same mistake in our spiritual lives, trying to balance a ledger of good deeds to outweigh our failures. It turns out that the math of heaven is different than the math of earth, and the debt was never ours to settle.
Tear Up The Planks
I spent many nights trying to smile through pleasant conversations while a thumping anxiety beat like a drum beneath the floorboards of my life. Just like the killer in Poe’s famous story, we often exhaust ourselves trying to keep a calm surface while a hidden fear or secret screams to be let out. If the internal noise is driving you to the brink of madness today, come read why the only way to find real peace is to finally tear up the planks.