On every summer weekend across the country, grills fire up and hot dogs blacken and burst. Beer tops pop, plastic chairs drag across cluttered patios and the intemperate laughter of revelers fills neighborhoods as America’s middle class sprawls undressed in the summer heat. As the hot dogs come off the grill, the immoral humor, the … Continue reading Ketchup

George lives a mile and a half from our house, in an old, sunken rental house so close to the road passersby could toss things inside left-handed. Often the front door stands open, with George standing in it, or on the shoulder of the road. He is likely a veteran, with a long gray ponytail … Continue reading The Other People

When I turned 40, I got my Bearcat revolver and a box of cartridges and laid them on our kitchen table. I brought my spotting scope, my road atlas. I carried up my sleeping bag, two hats, my leather carry bag, a sheath knife, my Leatherman. Around my neck I hung a steel medallion on … Continue reading Forty

So you had a bad day. But were your front incisors growing full circle through the roof of your mouth? Years ago, on top of an old wood fencepost, I found a portion of a ground squirrel skull. Rodent incisors grow continuously, kept the right length by their constant gnawing and nibbling. Healthy squirrels teeth … Continue reading Malocclusion

Building fences for people often inserts me into the center of marriages, a no-mans-land where escape turns on my abilities as a counselor, salesman and psychologist. I knew Landon* through business. In his office he was breezy, a tall, dark and handsome man.  Their home, high on a hill above town, was an enormous stucco … Continue reading Tracy

Family relationships, for most of us, will be some of the deepest connections we have with other humans. The pull of a Mother’s love, the alliance between brothers, the understanding of sisters. In some families, these connections anchor our lives, in others, these are the ties that bind and strangle. Most of us experience some … Continue reading Coming Home with Jesus

Amy and I both were born and raised in Holmes County OH, the second largest Anabaptist community on earth. Every year our family makes the arduous journey across the country to visit family and for a week and a half we luxuriate in Holmes County’s finest: the food, the culture, the commerce – and the … Continue reading The Cats and the Hats

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Human development can be understood to progress in stages. We need first this, then that, and after that the next thing. … Continue reading Dependence and Defiance

I am reasonably functional. A casual cataloging of my behavior will not reveal gross dysfunction. But I cannot laugh. I make do with what I have and get along. I cope. A sharp cry of delight, a quick derisive whoop followed by a blow to the knee or a clap gets me by in most … Continue reading How I Wish I Could Laugh