I’d Rather Fight a Bear: Porn

A Word from Curt Fighting It’s a word a man must know if he’s going to win in life. I’m not talking about fists or knives. I’m referring to the soul.     We’re all familiar with the adage, “I’d rather fight a bear.” After watching that grizzly bear tear up Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) in The Revenant, I’m not sure …

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Planting Trees . . . and Writing a Book

It’s a tree planting day on my Dry Creek land. It’s proposal day on my book, As the Crow Flies. A proposal is the written package sent to an agent/publisher to “sell your book.” I never thought of these two actions as related. Planting pines. Proposing a book. You start with what you have. And you plant it the best …

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Making Memories: A String of Pearls and Super Bowl I

Today is February 7, 2016.  It’s Game Day. Super Bowl 50, and we’ll  make another string of pearls. Memories. We’re in a season of making memories. And there’s no more important people to make memories with than grandchildren. How do I know? I simply go back to Super Bowl I. I watched it with my grandfather and my dad. In …

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Rylan

Up to the Task I watch him run around the yard with his cousins. I have one thought: this isn’t fair. Rylan is a precocious tow-headed five-year-old. He is precocious. That’s just a fancy word for full of life. He is precious. That’s special.   Rylan has seen a great deal in his young life. He lost his father through …

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A beautiful swing. A beautiful smile.

East Beauregard Trojans seniors of 2007.  Back L to R:  Michael Maddox, Richie McKay, Terry Iles,  Front   Brady Glaser, Kyle Burk, Tyler Adams        They’ll bury Michael Maddox this morning.  He’ll be wearing his Atlanta Braves cap and shirt. It’s fitting. It may seem shallow talking about baseball when a young man has died. But baseball was …

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What a novelist does.

“The historian tells what happened. The novelist tells how it felt.” -E.L. Doctorow     As many of you know, I’m in the midst of writing our fourth novel, As the Crow Flies. It’s the third book in the Westport Trilogy (the first books are The Wayfaring Stranger and A Good Place). Crow is currently in its third draft weighing …

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Provisions and Peace

  DeDe and I are sharing today about the needs of Voluntary Retiring Missionaries. These are career overseas workers who’ve chosen to take voluntary early retirement in our organization, the International Mission Board.   Here is the outline of our presentation:   Pray for peace in the spirits of these servants.  They’ve spent a lifetime on their fields.  Leaving their …

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I once was lost . . . but now am found

    Losing a dog, leaving a cap It may not seem like a big thing. But to me it was. Dee and I had spent three years without a dog. It’s the only time in our marriage we didn’t own at least one dog. Or to put it better: the only time a dog didn’t own us. Africa is …

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Dr. King at the Nile

It’s Dr. Martin Luther King Day here in America. My first MLK Day in America since 2011. Once again, my thoughts have returned to Africa today. To Jinja, Uganda. Where the world’s greatest river, the Nile, surges out of one of the world’s greatest lakes, Lake Victoria. A plaque to Gandhi is at the source of the Nile. This is …

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Meet an unforgettable character named Missouri.

We’re deep into the second draft of our latest novel, As the Crow Flies. I need your help in fleshing out some of the characters, scenes, and storyline. Join our Creekbank Tribe by sharing ideas at the end of this post. Thanks in advance! Today, you’ll meet the narrator of the book, a spunky teen named Missouri. Curt Opening line …

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Where are your sacred spaces?

A Word from Curt I have two questions today: Where do you go for your lonely place? Where are your sacred spaces?     I’ve chosen to make the first question singular: where is your lonely place? In the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, the writer makes a key statement on the life and ministry of Jesus: 35 And rising very …

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From Third Base: A Good View

“Rounding third, headed for home. It’s a brown-eyed handsome man.” -“Centerfield” John Fogerty   A Word from Curt My Keyword* for 2016 is Encouragement. It’s one of my 6 Plus Words** for the year. One of the richest seasons of my life was coaching high school baseball. I’ve always felt at home in the third base coach’s box. It’s the …

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Building on a Firm Foundation

Officially, it’s known at the Loma Prieta Earthquake. To me, it will always be the World Series Earthquake. October 17, 1989. Game 3 of the World Series.  The Bay Series:  cross-Bay rivals the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s. Just before game time, this 6.9 quake struck the Bay Area. When the shaking stopped, 63 people had died and nearly …

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