Parchment & Pen Blog

Lord, I am thankful to you that I have yet to experience anything like the dreaded time of 2010. I still don’t know the reason such a depth of depression came upon me, and you know that I am weary of trying to figure it out. When I left you for those three days, I [...]

Mom senses a bit of the problem. I don’t want her to. I want her to think she is no trouble at all. I want her to know that changing her diaper is a joy for me. I want her to know that giving her a bath causes me no discomfort at all. I took [...]

In 2006, my mother had a brain aneurysm. Since then she . . . Wait. I am getting ahead of myself. I need to back up. Growing up, my mother was a very strong figure in my life. She set the spiritual barometer for our whole family. She was a strong, stubborn, outspoken, energetic, and [...]

As many of you have so subtly noticed and kindly looked past, I have gained quite a bit of weight since 2006. In fact, I have gone from 200 to 270 pounds. I don’t know the exact cause. I don’t eat too differently. Maybe my bad back has caused me to slow down on my exercise routine. [...]

From an outsider’s perspective, I am much different than I used to be. When I moved back to Oklahoma in 2008 I was scared. It was not a place I wanted to be. The memories of who I was were haunting. I left for seminary late in 1998. I lived in the Dallas area until 2007. It was [...]

Left unchecked, experience is the most powerful source of belief in our lives. As the old saying goes, “You can’t argue with someone’s personal experience.” This is true in a limited yet real sense. Once someone has a personal experience, it becomes personal and it is very hard to take it away or argue against [...]

It is hard to believe it has been so long. Two years ago my mind broke. I wrote about it while in the darkness. I can’t believe it has been two years. No, no. This is not a “recovery letter.” This is not a testimony of victory. You know, a testimony: where I was before, [...]