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Why You Need to Know This Bitter Southerner: Heartlands Interviews Chuck Reece, Part 1 of 3
I was standing in a cemetery near Onancock, sweating in the mid-July heat, when Chuck Reece asked me how I got from radio journalism into ministry. I was supposed to be interviewing him, but Chuck Reece, even over the phone, is a master at sniffing out stories and he trained his curiosity on me before… →
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When Flo (and Other Storms of Life) are Raging
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. —Isaiah 43:2 As I write this, it looks like the Eastern Shore will be spared the worst of Hurricane Florence, (or Flo, as I’ve come to call her this week). I’m praying for the people… →
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When Angels First Trod the Earth: A Review of Philip Jenkins’ Crucible of Faith
It was 113 degrees when I was at Qumran a few weeks ago. Set up on a ridge near the Dead Sea, the site is unforgiving—no escape from the sun, salt flats and barren wilderness in every direction, a claustrophobic gift shop and lunch room packed with tourists who never seem to make it to… →
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The Last Sunset: Poetry
I didn’t really believe it was my last as I watched a sky so orange as to subdue the harshest skeptic of sundown magic. But I wondered. How many people in mortal peril see such sights as they slip away? Polar explorers perishing under pulsating green northern lights? Mountaineers admiring the blue tint of the… →
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What You Can Learn from 3 Hilltops: West Bank Edition
Flagpole in Sebastia Sebastia On the highest point in Sebastia, where a Roman Temple, the Northern Kingdom’s palace, and innumerable pagan holy sites once stood, there is a ramshackle wooden flagpole sporting a small Palestinian flag. Or at least there was last week when I visited. Locals report that the flagpole is the frequent target… →
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Come Write at The Porches with Alex
There’s still time to sign up for this great weekend workshop… →
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The Longoria’s BBQ: The Long-Awaited Heartlands Review
I was just getting ready to test out the brisket sausage when David Longoria sat down across the table from me as if we had known each other forever. It was a slow Saturday in Everman on the southern fringes of Fort Worth. The temperature hovered around 100 outside. Inside the small restaurant with the… →
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Can Anyone Find Home in North Carolina?: A Review of The Barrowfields by Phillip Lewis
‘The intellect when it really tries can for a time replace the sun though it won’t ripen strawberries.’ —Anna Kamieńska, ‘Classicism’ It is often the curse of those who return to their small town homes after education afar that they feel an alienation from the people and customs that formed them. Not that Henry Aster… →
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Small Churches Can Plan for a Healthy Future
I like my doctor. Even with all the needles and probes, I trust that she’s using the information she gleans through my brief discomforts to tell me something I need to hear. But I don’t always pay attention. For several years we had a little ritual over one persistent health issue: “Your cholesterol is high.”… →
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The Soul of Place–Carson McCullers
“In the quiet, secret night she was by herself again. It was not late–yellow squares of light showed in the windows of the houses along the streets. She walked slow, with her hands in her pockets and her head to one side. For a long time she walked without noticing the direction. “Then the houses… →
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