Category Archives: Parable, Metaphor and Illustration

Mom’s Money: A Gospel Picture

My parents were always poor. They came from poor people. They lived through the depression. The first house I remember was small, run down and drafty. Dad never was able to stay with a good job for very long, then his health broke down and he was disabled. He worked nickle and dime jobs, butContinue reading “Mom’s Money: A Gospel Picture”

A Post For The Kid With The Black Eye

This is my fifteenth year working at a Christian boarding school, and one constant during all of that time has been conversations about bullies. I’ve probably talked with 300 students about how to respond to a bully. I’ve probably had 50 conversations about the effect a particular bully was having on other students. Because IContinue reading “A Post For The Kid With The Black Eye”

The Coffeehouse: A Story

Skip Towne opened the door to his office and sat down to check his voice mail. Skip had been youth minister at Central Baptist Church for four years. As associate minister for youth at a large, traditional Baptist church, his life was always busy. Three services on Sunday, visitation on Sunday afternoons and youth groupContinue reading “The Coffeehouse: A Story”

Plan 9 From Lower Space

The following correspondence fell into the hands of the Internet Monk Research Department through a fortuitous series of events that cannot be detailed here, due to the need to keep certain parties anonymous while undercover. Let it be sufficient to say that when one has engaged the right people in a poker game, poured theContinue reading “Plan 9 From Lower Space”

The Best Show On Television: Echoes of The Fall and Glimpses of Grace in "House, M.D."

It’s major confession time. I have a TV habit. I think it started with the X-Files, which Denise and I started watching every week about the middle of its run. We watched and loved Millennium, and a short-lived series called Brimstone. We’ve always had at least one regular series we try to catch each weekContinue reading “The Best Show On Television: Echoes of The Fall and Glimpses of Grace in "House, M.D."”

In the Classroom: Three Stories, Othello and A Christian Approach To Literature

In my AP English IV class, one of my most difficult tasks is teaching students how to read, think and analyze literature as Christians. There are several reasons for the resistance. Laziness. A feeling that the classics are irrelevant. Senioritis. (A very real disease) And one that concerns me most of all: the belief thatContinue reading “In the Classroom: Three Stories, Othello and A Christian Approach To Literature”

The iMonk's Weekend File 1/22/05

I’ve got three topics running around in my head. All are important and deserve some ink. I’ll call it the iMonk’s Weekend File. Nothing too long and complex, but enough to say things that need to be said. Maybe they will reappear later as actual IM essays or BHT discussions. Would love your comments orContinue reading “The iMonk's Weekend File 1/22/05”

What's best for the children: A story about Bob

Somewhere in this world, there is a guy named Bob. Bob is a Christian. Married. Couple of small kids. He’s got the family every church wants. And that is the problem. Every church in town has a children’s program for Bob’s kids. There’s a clown at this church, pizza at that one, a children’s choirContinue reading “What's best for the children: A story about Bob”

Donald Miller pulls me out of the pit: A review of “Blue Like Jazz” and “Searching for God Knows What”

I can still hear Miss Morris, my senior English teacher, saying it: “Too many “I’s. Too many “me’s.” We were writing essays, and she was simply correcting us with one of the cardinal rules of good essay writing: the essay was about the thesis statement, not about “I,” “me,” or “my.” The reader didn’t needContinue reading “Donald Miller pulls me out of the pit: A review of “Blue Like Jazz” and “Searching for God Knows What””