For my birthday Lisa gave me a book I've been anxiously waiting to read, M.E. Thomas, Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight. I haven't been able to put it down. Why did I want to read this? Same reason I read Cormac McCarthy's brutally stark...
it’s coming out day
So it's National Coming Out Day in the USA. Many of our members have come out in some way or another... sexually, spiritually, psychologically... Some are still trying to find the opportunity or the nerve. I remember how long it took for me to come out...
rebuilding your life after the spiritual tsunami
I often compare the period of time when we left the church in 2010 as the perfect storm. It was like our lives were hit by a tsunami and after it was over we were surrounded by devastation. I didn't plan on it. There were no warnings. It just happened. And it happened...
update on the TLS site and forums
Honestly: I haven't been a fan of the forum format for quite some time. I find it too vast and cumbersome. Clunky. So I and our tech team are redesigning the format of TLS. I'm very excited about it. It's going to be far easier, accessible, and fun to use. And mobile!...
what is your spirit animal?
A little while ago in our secret Facebook group a discussion centered around what our spirit animals were. I had taken a test on this last year after Lisa, who is part Choctaw Indian, had visited an Aboriginal couple near here who had provided her with tons of helpful...
Exercise: give someone something
My cartoon today, iTithe, challenges the legal idea of tithing. But I do believe in generosity. I said, "I believe that when we are generous we live in a more generous universe." Now that Lisa and I don't go to church where we used to give generously, we like to find...
differences and tears
Yesterday was a lovely day so Lisa and I walked down to the river beach and sat while the waves rippled in. We had a heart to heart talk. She's feeling sad because she doesn't know how to pray right now. The old comfortable way no longer suffices. She asked me if I...
from stupidity to harmony
One of my most favorite authors, Wendell Berry, writes in Standing By Words: "To think better, to think like the best humans, we are probably going to have to learn again to judge a person's intelligence, not by the ability to recite facts, but by the good order or...
what the bible is trying to say
Some people when they deconstruct their faith and beliefs they can just leave the bible in one fell swoop and never think about it again. Not me. I had to form a new relationship with it over time. Here's how I look at it now. The bible has three epochs: The Yahweh...
I still have triggers.
Many of us have had terrible church experiences. Many of us talk about "triggers". Is it any wonder why? Read about one story in this forum thread, Angie's Story. It takes courage to talk about it and, therefore, to relive it. But this is the first step in disarming...
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