• Switch: A Nontraditional Easter Story

    SWITCH A Nontraditional Easter Story Caroline burrowed deeper into the corner of the last seat on the bus. “Invisible,” she whispered to herself. “Be invisible.” The bus was silent, except for the hum of the engine that had been left running. No newspapers rustled. No cells rang. No passengers moved up and down the aisle. Up front, the driver lay slumped over the steering wheel, his right hand still wrapped around the door lever. The absence of the normal buzz of activity left an empty vacuum that reached into Caroline’s lungs. Every breath she took seemed to get lost somewhere inside her body. Why hadn’t she driven to work today?…

  • Be a Dork for Jesus

    I have a secret. Sometimes I skip church. I shoo my kids into the van with super husband and watch out the window as they drive away. Here is what I am not going to do while they are gone—carve out time to work on my novel, crawl back into my fleece sheets for another two hours of much-needed sleep, or click on the TV to watch my favorite show. Let me paint a picture of my Sunday morning. After the Honda’s backside veers left on Quail Creek, I open all the curtains in the kitchen and family room, get the coffee going, light my twisted peppermint candle, and slip into…

  • Courting Catastrophe

    The gun was small and black. It looked plastic.  A party raged in the apartment next door—music blared, people laughed. Oblivious to the nightmare transpiring in my living room. My mind sprinted forward, sorting through the possibilities of how the next few minutes could play out, while my body melted into the couch, overloaded with the mental pictures my mind produced. I should yell. Run. Do something.