The book of Ecclesiastes is often seen as "a downer" by those who have read it.  Reputedly written by King Solomon of Israel, it reflects the wisdom learned of a man who had had it all, squandered some, and learned to apply wisdom later in life that he had been given as a younger man. I don't s...

Yes, it is dangerous to give Cyclone and me a Mad Lib book.  Bear with us.  Words underlined were, of course, those provided by the Mad Libber. === Ever since he was sweetly burned on the Mustafar Angel System, losing his butt cheeks and his hamstrings, Darth Vader has been more machine th...

It's been a busy time, here in the House O'Quill.  We are expecting guests over the Christmas holiday.  Usually, my mother-in-law, The Dynamo, and her husband, The Engineer, join us. And their dog, Abby.  This year, we also invited FurnitureGuy, my brother-in-law.  And of course,...

One thing that I love about [teaching an Advent series] every year is that every year, I see something new. Something more clearly. Something more powerfully. Whatever.  I still teach out of Isaiah, Micah, Genesis, Psalms, Jeremiah, but sometimes, I just get a cool "oooh!" from something. This ...

This is nuts. It's 80 blinking degrees at four o'clock in the afternoon.  Christmas is in two weeks and two days and I'm still running around in shorts and a light cotton blouse.  On the plus side, I can still drive with my windows down. That's nice. Okay, and I found this here. Twas a Flo...

...myclette who gleeped from ronben ... and so the legacy continues.  Sounds so...portentious! Anyway... Your rainbow is intensely shaded white, brown, and indigo.               What is says about you: You are a deep thinking person. You appreciate quiet ...

He drew in a lungful of hair. I cannot believe I managed not to catch that.  I cannot believe how hard it made me laugh. I'm fixing it. If you got one of the rare "lungful of hair" copies of Silent Music, just laugh along with me, all right?  I'm embarrassed, but that really did crack me u...

My class at my high school (Richard Gahr, 1984) was notable for its lack of "spirit."  Not that we didn't have fun, but there wasn't the rip-roaring wildness and excitement that was found in prior years at that school.  Seniors didn't GO to Senior Square for half the year.  We didn't ...

I'll call her Lily.  She's slender, graceful and fair. She's a girl in my Sunday School class, seated next to the girl with the gorgeous enormous eyes from two weeks ago.  The girl who pulled Pandemonium out of her Bible in the guise of the Song of Solomon. Lily isn't such a controversial ...

At the end of a very long life, a much-beloved man was carried back and forth to his friends when they got together.  He was rather feeble in body, but his heart was ever-strong.  He loved these young people who combined friends, family and faith-group.  He loved them extraordinarily....