Following Jesus in rejecting empire
The summer before my life disintegrated was lovely. There are Knoxville summers where the heat oppresses a person like a tyrant, but not that summer. Not the summer of 1997. Highs barely reached to 80 and the humidity must’ve pushed its way around us and into Georgia. I remember being happy, but only as though…
“You asked me if there would be dinosaurs in heaven.” I told Larissa. “I did?” She laughed? “I don’t remember that.” “You did.” I said. Larissa and I were working together on a stretch of road with about 50 others. We were tamping down gravel that had been unloaded from a large wagon and was…
I met Larissa Gardener the other day and the memory of my great transition came rushing back. She, of course, remembered nothing of our conversation in the church the day I died. I thought for my own sake I might try to describe it all as if writing to my beforelife self. (I vaguely recall…
There are relatively few things I remember about my 43 years of life, but one day in particular stands out to me with raw clarity. It was the day I died. It is a rare thing to die at church, though there were some long-winded sermons where I wondered if I might. I remember the…
“Doctor Maslow,” says Felix. “I have a theory about humans.” “Go on,” says Maslow. “My theory is that humans believe they are showing off hunting prowess when they carry baggies filled with dog feces behind their pet. They seem to me quite conceited as they follow their dog with that bag swinging from their fist.…