Throughout my life I was told by “Christian” pastors, children’s ministers, camp leaders, youth directors, Sunday school teachers, and other church workers and parishioners so many heartfelt, dignified, and loving words about what Christianity was through the life and ministry of Jesus. I believed them. Today, I no longer see those same people living the […]
Tag: family
Quarantine, Day 13
Right after I returned from twenty-seven months of Peace Corps service, the next three years were absolute mental hell. I had actually returned by boat, leaving from Barcelona and landing in Fort Lauderdale, and maybe it’s because of the sea legs I couldn’t shake for nearly a month, but I began to believe in the […]
Sister
They say your brother or sister is generally the person you will know longer than any other human being. My sister and I started that off on the right foot. Four years apart, I’m pretty sure the first dozen or so of my life, all we did was bicker. There was the time she pushed […]
On Migration
You may already know the first book of the Bible, Genesis, literally translates, “Beginnings.” The very next book, Exodus, means “mass migration.” We are made. And then, we go. And that story is repeated constantly throughout our holy texts. It’s Adam and Eve banished. It’s Abram’s journey out of his homeland. It’s Joseph sold into […]
Family, against all odds
I had a friend in college who once said to me that, though he considered himself an atheist, he wanted so badly to believe there was something, anything out there watching over us with tender love and care. He just couldn’t. I was always struck by this because I felt the exact opposite: whereas he […]
On the other hand…. ten year-olds will be ten year-olds
Six months ago, Caity and Avery were nothing short of exasperated with several people as they prepared to leave. I remember both of them just repeating, “It’s awful, Phil. It’s absolutely awful.” This morning, I finally got a taste of what they were talking about. I guess it can’t all be peaches and cream, right? […]
Fes
One of the first cities in Morocco I ever had the chance to visit was Fes. For the first three months I lived here, Fes was sort of a central location in my life before I knew my final site, and with every trip there, I got to know the city a little bit better. […]
A Big Family
There’s probably not much I hate more than being sick, so when I was bent over the Turkish toilet last week heaving up my insides, I couldn’t help but wonder what I’d gotten myself into – you know, running off to a foreign country and eating food that’s in the process of taming my stomach. […]
On Being Different, or maybe not so much.
Maybe it just stood out to me for some weird reason, but I seem to remember a time when we were kids and one of the big topics of conversation in school was to celebrate our differences. After all, every single person has a unique set of fingerprints, different colored hair or skin, different ways […]
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