Animal Crackers in My Soup

Animal Crackers in My Soup

Twice this past week, I’ve waited in an office and finally departed, ready to bite someone’s head off, like I used to do with my animal crackers. Talk about a zoo. Instead of spinning a Tin Collector’s Tale about animal crackers, I hardened my heart and collected grievances. Never mind that I prayed for some…

This is Not the Real World

This is Not the Real World

While cynics and pragmatists are quick to carp that the Gospel and the Christian worldview don’t offer solutions to real-world problems—as if this punch delivered the ultimate technical knock-out—I’d like to suggest that this world we live in now is not the real world. Fiction writers, too, are frequently criticized for not focusing on real…

Thank You for Your Service

Thank You for Your Service

Let’s learn to serve. And please, let’s also learn to say, “Thank you for your service.” Many people in my church used to have the notion that ministry is a high-falutin’ position occupied primarily by preachers and missionaries. Forget that, I said. The Biblical concept of ministry is service, sometimes in a spiritual arena, but…

Comfort Food in War and Peace

Comfort Food in War and Peace

What’s your favorite comfort food in good times and bad? Mine’s pizza with the works, spaghetti and meatballs, or chicken pot pie…and any of the above followed by a handful of warm chocolate chip cookies and a tall glass of ice-cold milk. Today’s legacy tin symbolizes the homey comfort of cookies to me. It’s a…