A deeper spiritual walk?

I’ll tell ya what. I’ve been on this path a long time and I’ve never quit looking for a deeper experience, and for G, who lives in me – and you! – in the full length, and depth, and breadth, and width of His being. I long for that presence to expand in me.

This is what the church of the dancing calf  is all about. Yes, it’s about writing and living the good life and telling great stories, but all of these point back to a life in sync with the Heavenly Father.

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Everything here is free. I do write and sell books on Amazon and I publish essays and stories, too. But here on the site? There are no memberships, no tiers that cost you money: just as much great writing as I can churn out.

There is one thing I ask of you, though. Won’t you leave me your address in the right sidebar? I have an unimaginable goal for the number of followers and this is how I confirm the number. YOU WILL get a monthly newsletter listing my new posts and any new publishing I’ve done. I usually write a few new things, too. It’s the best way to keep up with my goings on.

Also, if you drop me your email address, you are automatically entered into my free book giveaway each month. As much as I write a lot, I read a lot, too. With my hoarding gene active, I’ve kept these books for years – these read books – and store them in boxes in my shop. I used to sell them but I would list ten a month on eBay and sell one for a fifty-cent profit. I’m just not interested anymore, so I give them away. My kids pick the book. Even I don’t know what it is until they pick it. Looking at the giveaway shelf now, I see books about physics, stories by Roald Dahl, Celeste Ng, and some writing books. It’s a great deal if you want to give it a go.

Email me at writer@churchofthedancingcalf.com.

I tell you up front that I am not so enamored with the socials, but I do kind of maintain a presence on Twitter. If I’m on, I’m happy to engage. I post to Facebook but don’t use it much, Maybe I’ll have a change of heart?

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Just so you know, I studied Art History way back before it was historical. My love is molecular biology and evolution, and I did medical research at the University of Washington in Seattle for a time. I met my lovely wife while we were both on staff with the Office of Vetrans 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 though I make no attempt at being any good. This goes ditto for any skill I’ve acquired as a semi-sober, Les Paul thrashing, rock guitarist.

It gets messier with my Christianity and walk with Jesus. I’ve been to any number of churches, and most veer 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. It’s weird to me now, but before I first read it, I’d never heard things like science, art, literature, or philosophy linked with Christianity. I was clearly looking for permission to explore and, now, some forty-five years later, have used this to learn Augustine’s famous dictum that all truth is God’s truth. I didn’t know this then.

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.

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 mytsic 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 walk 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. 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 know of one boy-child born in Tacoma, Washington, to parents of British and Slovak heritage who lived on Fife Heights and loved dinosaurs and Tonka trucks. He loved his Datsun Fairlady, and loved learning how to frame a wall and how to clone his cells. This boy-child is me, and only me. I will not presume that the way G works with me is the way he works with you or other humans. This story I write here is your story, too, made just for you by changing the details. But know this: however you write the story, only one person fits. You.

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 existence. Let’s help each other and smile a lot.