As my friend and I munched on warm chips and hot queso I was struck by the thought, “I wish we’d done this more often.” Yet, like so many times in life I was late to the game. While we ate good food and talked about what was going on in each of our lives … More It’ll Cost Ya, but It’s Worth It
Just as Covid swept in and locked us all down in March of 2020, my oldest daughter and I started a new routine: going for a run 3 days a week. We’ve kept up with it through Spring, Summer, Fall and most of Winter which I gotta say, I’m as surprised as anyone. I wasn’t … More (Street) Light and Shadow
Everyone faced a nearly innumerable amount of challenges in 2020, most of which have carried into 2021, and most due in no small part to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The one which is bemoaned almost universally (I say almost because my brother has actually enjoyed this part) is the disappearance of face-to-face interaction. For … More Face to Face
Henry Mathias Dalton. The Reverend H.M. Dalton. Mac. Daddy. He had many names. Which one you used depended on how you knew him. I just called him Papa. He was born at the start of the 20th century, in 1911. His mother died in 1922, after which he and his 7 siblings were shuffled … More Papa
I began this year much like I’m ending it: sitting at the table in our front room, bathed in the light of the sun through the biggest window in our home, typing away on my laptop. I’ve sat in this same spot pretty much every Monday-Friday this year, as I began working from home even … More How It Started vs How It’s Going
How passing through the Appalachian mountains in the dark became a metaphor for my faith in 2020. … More Mountains in the Dark
“What did you just say?” My friend looked at me from the passenger seat, leaning forward for emphasis, as he asked the question again: “WHAT did you just say?” We were riding together and I was driving in my then-typical road-rage-at-all-times manner. When a driver in front of me failed to go as fast as … More Lord, Have Mercy
“Can you come meet me by the Braverman house?” No explanation, no details…just my wife asking me to come meet her near a house we often dream of buying, so-named because it reminds us of the family home on the TV show Parenthood. Either it had finally gone up for sale or she’d had a … More Restoration
(Note: the pic above was commissioned just for this piece by my oldest daughter. Couldn’t be prouder of that kid!) “You’re just like a frog in a kettle…swimming around in the water, not realizing the heat is being turned up on ya slowly.” An old friend of mine used to say this to me every … More Frog in the Kettle
We were going to get up and watch the sunrise this morning, my wife and I. In 22+ years of marriage we have never seen an Easter sunrise together, so we thought catching one would be a nice way to start the day. However, Oklahoma being Oklahoma, about 15 minutes before sunrise, thunder rolled loudly … More The Oddity of Easter 2020
The Wading Pool 