Blog Features

MY SKIN COLOR is Premium Saltine Cracker. It is the color my dermatologist recommends. I am of European heritage. A little Brit and a little German, as best my cousin Sandy can tell, based on her genealogical quest for our beginnings. If I worked …

I RIDE BIKES WITH TIM. He has multiple sclerosis. One day I asked some of my Facebook friends what they would ask God if they got the chance to ask a single question. Tim’s wife, Barbara, submitted her question: Will you heal my husband? Tim and …

I’M NOT A FICTION WRITER. I can’t sit on my back patio and write a book while throwing tennis balls to Buddy the Dog. If I could, I would. Forget the typing. I’d kick back and dictate that sucker. “When Hermann Hershberger turned his buggy into Yoder …

I’M 800 MILES AWAY FROM HOME. I haven’t lived there in over 30 years, and I still call it home. What’s up with that? I should call it Ohio. “I’m going back to Ohio for a visit.” But instead I say, “I’m going home for a visit.” I’m not sure what to …

DID YOU EVER try to track the stories of King David with the songs he supposedly wrote in Psalms? It’s a pain in the neck. Francie Foster asks the Bible question of the week, and gets a free book for her trouble: I’m in a small group that is …

STONING WOMEN TO DEATH for adultery, tragically, isn’t old news from ancient history. It’s breaking news. At first read of the Bible, it sounds like God approves of this punishment: “If a man is discovered committing adultery, both he and the woman …

PUPPIES ARE A NO-SHOW in the Bible. Nothing canine cute and cuddly makes an appearance there. As far as the Bible is concerned, dogs are not man’s best friend. We spit on them and their mothers. Sometimes we spit in them. In their mouth. You read me …

IT TAKES STOMACH LINING to build a website. Mine. The designer’s. The backend coder’s. It’s not like making spam casserole from a recipe in a Betty Crocker book. Well, it could be. That’s if you’re using one of those cookie cutter templates and …

WHO DREAMED UP THE IDEA of purgatory—a mudroom for cleaning off the dirt before walking into heaven? The story is strange enough that I included it in my newest book: Strange and Mysterious Stuff from the Bible. Here’s the scoop. This is Strange and …

I PLANNED MY OWN BIRTHDAY PARTY. Big deal. My wife planned another. This past Sunday I was turning another decade, and change. So I had decided a few weeks ago to copy something I saw a German gent do last year when we visited friends there. The …

A FRIEND OF MINE asks God the same question I would ask if I got the chance to ask God just one question. I asked readers who follow my Facebook page what they would ask God if they were allowed to ask just one question. My friend, Erin Cottrell, …

I KILLED OUR FATHER-SON VACATION on day one. Nearly killed myself, too. You can do that when you’re biking down the peak of British Columbia’s Whistler Mountain—venue for skiers in the 2010 Winter Olympics. In summertime, Whistler—with its primo dirt …