Of Parsonages and Pirates

April 30, 2013 By 3 Comments

For Cathy Warner, Literary Editor of IMAGE Journal’s “Good Letters” Blog

But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” —Luke 18:16

I remember three things about Doug.

Number one: When we were in the same class in elementary school in Odessa, Missouri in the mid-1980s, Doug lost the battle of boy versus bladder in the hallway.

“I really need to go!” Doug said to our teacher, sweat beading on his brow.

“I’m sorry Douglas, but you’re going to have to wait,” our teacher replied. “I can’t just let all you boys run willy-nilly in the bathroom now, can I? Wait until it’s your group’s turn to go.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chad Thomas Johnston, Relationships Tagged With: , 3 Comments

Gethsemane Companions

August 16, 2012 By 9 Comments

To David T., David R., Anna, Tyler, Jamie, Jenny, Jake, Jillian, and the rest

Over the past couple of months, facing two family crises that impact the whole relational web of my tribe down in Tennessee, I’ve learned something about myself: I’m not very good at fessing up to my own needs.

Instead I am attentive—sometimes over-attentive—to the needs of others.

Instead of saying, “I need help,” I ask, “How can I help you?”

Instead of saying, “I need someone to talk to,” I ask, “Is there anything you want to talk about?”

Instead of saying, “I don’t want to be alone,” I say, “I am here for you.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Dyana Herron, Relationships, Uncategorized Tagged With: , 9 Comments

The Final Chapter in a Promising Young Life

August 10, 2012 By 6 Comments

I was driving when it occurred to me that it has been twenty years since my old friend Geoff Sanders was murdered.

I was headed home from work, public radio blasting even though I really wasn’t listening, the rosy beginnings of sunset blooming over the abandoned warehouses of gritty New York Avenue, the route I take every day.

Then a piece came on the radio—I’ve tried in vain to find it since. How my memory fails me—about a mentoring program for young inner city men set in the context of a wave of gang violence that spread across Chicago this summer. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Caroline Langston, Relationships, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , 6 Comments

Weddings, Women, Sweets, and Wishes

June 5, 2012 By 8 Comments

My heirloom cookbook was born during a Washington D.C. snowstorm in February of what was then called “The Year 2000,” in my final months of singlehood before I was to be married in July. That storm barely registers in the city’s memory now: it was neither the Blizzard of 1996, with its eight-foot-high snowbanks, 2003’s freak President’s Day storm, nor was it the incomparable Snowmageddon of 2010 (which I wrote about on Good Letters).

However, the storm in 2000 was significant enough—knee-high drifts under a gun-metal sky and the threat of more on the way—that work was cancelled for two days, and my roommate Paula and I lounged around the apartment filled with snow-glare-white light, drinking wine, ordering pizza (somehow Domino’s still delivered), and watching the first season of Survivor with her boyfriend Johan, who had crashed at our place for the fun. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Caroline Langston, Relationships Tagged With: , , 8 Comments