Good stories
Scenes and characters
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Post Script to Golden Gate Bridge Story
“Timing is God’s signature.” Back in the day, when I considered writing a Bible study, the idea struck that timing can confirm God’s guidance. Since then, repeating this statement to myself, innumerable outcomes have reinforced my belief. This morning, my inbox had a post from a guy I follow, but do not always read, and he wrote about the Golden Gate Bridge. What? Now? So, I kept reading. Sean of the South: Two Hundred & Twenty Feet Today, I’m sharing a link to his post, believing the timing might make you readers smile. Timing. God’s signature.
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Man’s Search for Meaning . . . of Words
A book I recently read and am now listening to on Audible weaves together the story of 3 boys whose lives intersect and take them on an adventure via The Lincoln Highway [1]. “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few are to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.” ― Francis Bacon, The Essays Already referred to as a classic, The Lincoln Highway, like Amor Towles’ previous novels––A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility––the payoff for readers comes…
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Christmas All Around Us in Stories
To have a story, you must live a story. And that story, if it is interesting and real, will include all the drama and crises that many people prefer simply to read about or watch someone else experience. Heartache. Crisis. Death. And buckets of tears. “You don’t get to be old without knowing grief and loss.” Louise Penny [1] Not a single person whose story got recorded in the Bible escaped suffering, grief, and loss. No, no, not one. A Norman Rockwell life exists only in still life. The Greatest Story Ever Told Stories matter. Your story matters. You live a story. Your life tells a story that others read…
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Running Away from Home
[Remembering from my life an earlier All Saints’ Day, here’s an edited chapter, excerpt from my memoir manuscript.] That both our fathers had died the year before, within months of each other, this had nothing to do with Dianne and me running away from home on November 1, All Saints’ Day. Neither of us had planned to run away, but instead of going to school, Dianne and I awoke that morning after Halloween on sugar overload eager for an adventure. Dianne had spent the night with me on a school night. My mother had already left for work. To school, or not to school? Our plan unfolded. We combined our…
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Admitting When You Are Lost
Have you ever believed you had headed in the right direction and it turns out you went wrong? What then? How long before you stop and change directions? When I was pregnant with my third child, our young family went camping with another family. Two dads, two moms, two 4-year-old girls and two 7-year-old boys. Our friends had borrowed a large RV so that both families could travel together. Behind this monstrous bus, the driver dragged a Jeep for transportation once we got to Red River, NM. My family slept outside in a tent, beside their more substantial housing. Next day, piled into the Jeep, we headed up the mountain…
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Did Noah build the first door?
The first door mentioned in the Bible is metaphorical. “Sin is crouching at your door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it,” said God to Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve. Sin revealed itself a dark and ominous evil when Cain murdered his brother Abel. Reference to the door of Cain’s heart, Cain had a choice. The rest of human history gets squeezed into three brief chapters in Genesis, a succinct commentary on the human race before the flood: God had had enough. [1] Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it…
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Sad Movies Always Make Me Cry
A friend repeated what her mother said. “If your eyes leak, your head won’t swell.” She meant that you won’t get a big head. Sometimes, I just need to cry. I may not realize that I am carrying an emotional load, or wearing sadness like a garment, or consciously think a good cry would help. But physiologically and psychologically, crying can relieve the heart of its heaviness and cleanse the soul the way rain clears the air and waters the soil. For some reason, I started thinking of films that have always made me cry. In no particular order, here are a few movies that awaken my tear ducts. Funny…