Good stories
Scenes and characters
-
Sovereignty and Providence: What’s the Difference?
Maybe good things have happened to you that you could not have imagined or arranged for yourself. That’s providence. Maybe bad things have happened that you didn’t want or see coming and didn’t think you deserved. That’s sovereignty. In both cases, I’m referring to the providence and sovereignty of God. On one occasion, when given opportunity to ask an eminent preacher a question, I asked him, “What’s the difference between God’s Sovereignty and Providence?” His dismissive answer, “There is none.” I disagree. And I have spent a good bit of time and thought to answer that question myself. Lessons from My Life Three different families at three different times and…
-
Isolation, Solitude, and What’s Missing in a Hurried Life
One of my favorite movies is Cast Away (2000). Spoilers, video clips, and opinions follow. The movie tracks the fast-paced life of a Fed-Ex executive who works as if he is saving lives by shaving seconds off the process of delivering packages. This character, Chuck Noland, played by Tom Hanks, drives employees as if every second counts. “We live and we die by time, and we must not commit the sin of turning our back on time.” Chuck Noland, character played by Tom Hanks The movie begins at break-neck speed to dramatize Noland’s life, his relationships, as well as to display the cost of hurry, of racing through each day like…
-
When I Am Afraid, Who or What Do I Trust?
If God would concede to me His omnipotence for twenty-four hours, you would see how many changes I would make in the world. But if He gave me His wisdom too, I would leave things as they are. J.M.L. Monsabre, 19th century French Dominican How Stories Expand Our Perspective on Life Years ago, a woman I met at a weekend retreat introduced herself by telling of the night before her four-year old daughter faced surgery for leukemia. Holding her mother’s hand before being wheeled into the operating room, the little girl asked, “How long is soon?” The woman said, “I hesitated, not knowing how to answer.” “Soon . . . not…
-
Rescuing Good Memories of People Who Hurt Us Takes Time
Hurting people hurt people. It occurs to me as I sit on a worn sofa looking out the picture window that frames the mountain beyond the towering Ponderosa pines, it is impossible for me to see the mountain where I am sitting now. I can see the mountain across the road, but not the mountain our cabin is built on. The Cuchara Valley is hemmed in by smaller mountains at the base of the Spanish Peaks––two majestic mountains that break the monotony of the plains of southeastern Colorado. In the same way that I cannot see the mountain where I find myself located at the moment––elevation 8450’––it takes time and…
-
Nelle Harper Lee’s Writing Continues to Bring the South to Life and Life to Readers
“All I want to be is the Jane Austen of south Alabama,” Harper Lee said in an interview. Why Harper Lee wrote is as important as what she wrote. “As you know, the South is still made up of thousands of tiny towns. There is a very definite social pattern in these towns that fascinates me. I think it is a rich social pattern. I would simply like to put down all I know about this because I believe there is something universal in this little world, something decent to be said for it, and something to lament in its passing.” Harper Lee, quoted in Mockingbird, by Charles J. Shields…
-
#SpringFire at Pinehaven
“Thank You, Firefighters” The fire line cut above our area saved the cabins in Pinehaven. Courageous firefighters stood their ground here, like soldiers sent into battle. After forced evacuation on Friday June 29, returning to our cabin on Tuesday July 10, we found everything as we had left it . . . piles of raked pine needles in the driveway, flowers I had planted in window boxes and planters on the deck, and even the garden gloves dropped on the ground once the decision was made to pack and leave.
-
The Prodigal Suitcase Comes Home
If my suitcase could talk, what would it tell me? Would it tell me what happened that night 6 months ago when I let go of its hand(le)? Would it tell me where it has been all this time? Would it tell me whose fault it was that it got left behind? Would it tell me when I messed up? When I took my eyes off this seeming extension of my right arm? All speculation as to who, what, when, where and why fell to the ground yesterday when my long-lost suitcase made its way home. What happened?