This was a striking book. Rapture Practice: My One-Way Ticket to Salvation by Aaron Hartzler, is a young adult (YA) memoir. That’s a fairly new genre, and there aren’t a ton of books in the genre yet, so I was really eager to read this book to see how the author structured the story and …
A little over two years ago I got the chance to participate in an open-mic type reading at the Southern Book Festival. A writer friend of mine had organized it, and I read a non-fiction piece I wrote about my tenth anniversary, sexuality, and body issues. The piece was a little humorous and little serious. …
Advent is upon us, and everyone seems to be writing about it. But actually my Advent started back on November 15, which is when Orthodox Christians enter into the nativity season. So like every year, we put up the Christmas decorations on the weekend of the 15th. We got out our little Advent tree and the …
For the past few years, I have taught sixth grade Sunday School at my church. If you’re looking for embarrassing and awkward situations, teach sixth grade Sunday School. You will have to listen to twelve year old boys read the word “bosom” aloud and burst into giggles. And then one of them might ask you …
I recently told my husband that I don’t want to read the Bible unless I have a commentary beside me. My seminary-educated parents taught me that the best way to read the Bible was to read the original Greek/Hebrew, to understand the context and culture of the time, to be aware of who was writing it, …
