When I was a little kid, I remember my dad sitting down at our baby grand piano playing the only tune he knew — one he made up many years ago. Our old sheep dog, grafted into our home after she romped freely for many years around our family ranch in Aubrey, TX, would sit […]
A few years ago when I was teaching 7th grade, we would take each section of our students to the Dallas Life Foundation — a long-term shelter for men, women, and children without a home where individuals and families received their basic needs but also were trained in certain practical skills and fed spiritual nourishment. […]
The Stupidity of Christ’s Endurance: A Good Friday Reflection
“A Not so Good Night in the San Pedro of the World” it’s unlikely that a decent poem in in metonightand I understand that this is strictly myproblemand of no interest to youthat I sit here listening to a man playinga piano on the radioand it’s bad piano, both the playing andthe compositionand again, this […]
Burying the Lede in Cliche: An Extended Metaphor Describing the Next Phase of My Life.
When I was a junior in high school, I had the opportunity to speak in our upper school chapel. For some reason, I chose to pursue this opportunity (Good thing I was athletic. Because of that, I was able to maintain some social clout after – as you will soon see — I gave a […]
The Luckiest
There are these moments in my life that seem to endlessly flutter around my soul, sparking it on occasion with the tips of its wings. They flit in and out, up and down, and each faint brush pulses through me, and I remember something; something that moved me to surprise and awe when I least […]
Held in the Light
I’ve lost my ability to pray. Well, that isn’t quite accurate. Maybe I have lost my ability to be tethered abstractly to the Lord; to push petitions and intercessions through the ether to the unknown, unseen, unfelt space in which God dwells (whatever that means). I say space because this heavenly place seems expansive, distant, […]
Summer of Love
Every summer presents a challenging question. What in the world am I going to do for two and a half months while school is out? As a single guy with no kids, I’m not naturally forced into a way of life, but given a choice among a myriad of options. Over the past five summers, […]
Remembering our Imperfections — The Japanese Tea Bowl
Today, I pulled out from the dryer one of my many white, TCA coaching shirts while I was washing my clothes and cleaning my new condo. As I indelicately shoved the white, chipping hanger through the top of the shirt’s neck hole – my irrational impatience and anxiety withholding me from attempting the struggle of […]
2016 in Review: The 3 Most Viewed Articles on The Displaced Pilgrim
Since May when I created the Displaced Pilgrim, I have been a bit discouraged with my writing and reading habits. This disillusionment with myself has led to a seeming dearth of meaningful reflection and a stagnation of the heart. In this perceived state, it is like I am incapable of connecting empathetically and compassionately to […]
We, Keepers of a Bound God
As I began my Christmas break, I perused my bookshelf trying to find a novel I hadn’t read but purchased impulsively somewhere along the way. My eyes fell upon the blackened spine of McCarthy’s seminal novel, Blood Meridian, and after I recalled the high praise a few friends of mine gave the story, I thought, […]
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