What it’s about
I’ll tell ya what. I’ve been hiking for a long time and never quit looking for a deeper experience, and for G, who lives in me in the full length, depth, breadth, and width of His being. I long for that presence to expand. If you read any J.I. Packer, you’ll recognize me as the hiker. That’s me, yelling and finding something for dinner. And that’s my wife, telling me it’s too hot to run and looking for the kids. We don’t sit in the stands much, or comment on other people. Life itself has enough concern for us.
This is what the church of the dancing calf is all about. Yes, it’s about writing and living the good life. It’s about telling great stories and it’s about science and teaching, but all of these point back to a life in sync with the Heavenly Father.
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Everything here is free. True: I write and sell books on Amazon, and I write essays and stories, too, and the publishers are nice enough to send me a few buck. Bbut here on the site? There are no memberships, no tiers that cost you money: just as much writing as I can churn out.
One thing I ask of you, though. Won’t you leave me your email address? If you do, you are automatically entered into my book giveaway each month. As much as I write a lot, I read a lot, too, and with my hoarding gene active – a gift from the Slovak peasant side of my family – I store these books in my shop. I used to sell them but would list ten a month on eBay and sell one for a fifty-cent profit. Interest in selling has dribbled away so I hand them out in trade. I let the kids pick the book so you will usually get the one with the shiniest spine. Shiny is a big deal in our house. Looking at the giveaway shelf now, I see books about physics, stories by Roald Dahl, and Celeste Ng, and some writing books.
Email me at writer@churchofthedancingcalf.com
I’ll say that I am the odd duck who is less than enamored with the socials, and use them mostly to maintain a presence. See me here on X. If I’m on, I’m happy to engage. I’m on Instagram here.
Just so you know, I studied Art History once, but my love is molecular biology and evolution. I did medical research at the University of Washington in Seattle. I met my lovely wife while we were both on staff with the Office of Veterans Affairs, doing neurological research. As much as I enjoy science and research, I am a woodworker and once made a very meager living making custom furniture south of Seattle. I play chess poorly and this goes ditto for any skill I’ve acquired as a semi-sober, Les Paul thrashing, rock guitarist.
It gets messier with Christianity. I’ve been to any number of churches, with most veering to the Protestant side of the aisle. I say here on the site that I read Protestor’s theology, as well as Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and some atheist stuff, too. And enjoy it all. What I don’t enjoy, and what causes me to slam the book shut, is any writer or speaker who gives top billing to theology – a man-made thing – over a relationship with G. I don’t care who you are or what your position: if Greek tenses and the real meaning of an Aramaic word used three times in history means more to you than loving G or your neighbor, well, I think you’ve fallen on the wrong side of the fence.
Some influences
I think differently about it now, but by far the most influential book I’ve read for both my Christian and secular life is A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken. As a young Christian, I’d never heard a Christian talk about art or science or literature but Vauauken served it up in heaps. I was clearly looking for permission to explore.
Most of my favorite books are long and dense and Russian. Tolstoy is my fav, followed by Turgenev and Nabokov. Because I 
know that you’re wondering, Anna Karenina is the greatest novel ever penned. Other greats I’ve gone back to several times are History, A Novel by Elsa Morante, and The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. The Picture of Dorian Gray has an odd grip on me, too.
Though dead now for decades, Keith Green has been as influential as anyone in my Christian life. Lately, I’ve become enamored with someone else who passed away too early: Rich Mullins. I wasn’t a fan while he was alive, but I’m drawn now to his mystic side. Another dead guy I love is JI Packer. I read his Knowing God every January for the sense of the thing and for the erudition and writing. For moderns – here’s where I can get into trouble – I enjoy Beth Moore, who is everyone’s favorite former Baptist turned Episcopalian. I like Kristin Kobes Du Mez and just about anything by John Micheal Talbot. As you can see, my thoughts and likes get messier as I move forward. Or backward. Your decision…
What can this site do for you?
I publish a weekly Sunday Lesson on – violá! – Sundays. They’re short and to the point at I hope they lead you to a deeper communion by stripping away much of what we Americans wrap our Christianity in. Before you get the wrong idea, let me say now that I love much of the American Church. I love that the church is far and away the most enormous donor to the poor and needy in America. I love that Friday night food shelters are staffed by the local church and that prison ministries are a real things. These are all good, and examples of real Christianity.
To sum up, I am on a path to a deeper relationship with G, a continual transformation, less of me and more of Him(1). My goal here, my goal for the Dancing Calf, is that, as I learn, I will tell you what works for me and what doesn’t. Use this to sort out your own path. I AM NOT HERE TO TELL YOU WHAT TO DO! I am only a grown boy-child born from Tacoma, Washington, born to parents of French and Slovak heritage. I lived in Fife and loved dinosaurs and Tonka trucks until I fell in love with my Datsun Fairlady. Later, I learned to love framing walls and cloning cells. This boy-child is me, and only me. I will not presume that the way G has works with me is the way he works with you or other humans.
Let’s make this journey together.
This is where I’m supposed to call you to action and declare myself an expert in…what? If you stick around at all you’ll see that I play very fast and very loose with the rules of writing. I would love for you to leave me your email address. And I’m so smart that I don’t charge you for a thing. Amazon, of course, has other ideas, as do the journals I write for. You can donate as you see fit. Or you don’t have to. If you need an expert, I’m pretty good at writing procedures for the local nuclear plant, or if you need advice about hand-cutting dovetails. I might just be your man. But if you want expertise in following G? Remember that we’re all just wriggling worms on the sidewalk compared to the transcendent G of all existence. Let’s help each other and smile a lot.
1. I use the historical masculine in all places. I use they neutered ‘It’ sometimes and it sounds horribly wrong to my old ears.