I admire creativity. LSU fans appear to have a heaping dose of it, along with a sense of humor. Here’s hoping Alabama fans do too. Otherwise, this tiger tale stuck to the bronze likeness of Coach Nick Saban along Alabama’s Walk of Champions might create a stir. The Tide and the Tigers face off in Baton Rouge this coming weekend. I have friends on both sides of that field, so all I can say is I’m rooting for a good... Read more
Editor’s Note: The following post is by the lovely Sarah Thebarge. Write that name down. You will want to remember it for 2013 when her book, The Invisible Girls (Jericho Books) is released. Sarah is one of the finest writers I’ve ever had the honor to read. Trust me when I tell you that her book is nothing short of sheer wonder. # My friend Kristin called me in September and asked me to do the Susan G. Komen Race... Read more
Have you seen this photo of Oprah smoking? She sent it out by tweet to her gazillion followers, along with this statement: And THAT’s a Wrap! Terrance Howard and me in our goodbye “love scene”. Thanks Lee Daniels for the great experience. #theButler Most of the media response to Oprah’s tweet focuses on the fact that in the new movie The Butler, Oprah will have a love scene with Terrance Howard. Perhaps they all missed the latest news report about... Read more
“And, God, remember to be the Lord.” This young boy’s prayer was recorded by his mother. The writer Madeleine L’Engle. This was during one of the many times when the adults had huddled by the radio during a world crisis — but it took a four-year-old to remind me in my own praying that God is the Lord who is in charge of the universe, no matter what we do to mess it up, L’Engle wrote. God, remember to be... Read more
There was a dead child on the floor but that was of little concern to the man pacing. He had pushed a dining room table and chairs up against a hollow-wood door, in a frantic effort to keep out the EMTs and law enforcement officials who had descended on his home like August gnats. Everyone noticed the way he walked back and forth around that table, stalking his territory, mostly annoyed it seemed to onlookers that the child’s death may,... Read more
I walked 20 steps, from Mama’s bedroom to the laundry room. Mama was sitting on the bed when I left. I was gone all of three minutes. When I came back Mama was gone. Since she’s been off the chemo and on the steroids, Mama thinks she’s Arnold Studnegger. She moves lickety-quick, holding on to walls, tables and anything else within arm’s reach. Three weeks ago she couldn’t get to the bathroom alone. I checked the bathroom. Not there. I... Read more
There are these moments, mundane ones usually, when a harsh truth confronts me. Tonight it came while running cold water over Mama’s wire-rimmed glasses. “Where are you going with those?” Mama asked, when I walked out of the room carrying her glasses. “I’m going to wash them. They are dirty,” I replied. I stood there, in Mama’s bathroom, soaping up the thick lenses, and thinking: The eyeglasses of the dead litter antique stores and second-hand shops all across this nation.... Read more
Suppose you were the person a distraught girl sought out to report that a youth minister had raped her in the stairwell right before church services. Suppose that young girl was only 13. Suppose you were on staff at that Mega-church. What comfort would you have offered that child? What action might you have taken to address the allegations? Would you have called local authorities immediately? Her parents? Or would you have waited, as staff at Victory Christian Center of Tulsa, Oklahoma... Read more
Content Director’s Note: This post is a part of our Election Month at Patheos feature. Patheos was designed to present the world’s most compelling conversations on life’s most important questions. Please join the Facebook following for our new News and Politics Channel — and check back throughout the month for more commentary on Election 2012. Please use hashtag #PatheosElection on Twitter. I’d rather vote for a Mormon than a Muslim. That slur was posted on Facebook by... Read more
Karen Spears Zacharias
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