Cover for Formation

Formation

A series exploring the formative experiences of childhood and how they shape our understanding of faith, safety, and belonging.

6 chaptersIn progress

Table of Contents

1

Writing Blind

My inner world is just as important as my outer world. How I live inwardly will bring context and meaning to my daily life.
March 1st, 2002
2

God in Dangerous Places

God met me in the dangerous place. I stood up and left that place knowing God loved me.
July 3rd, 2025
3

The Brute Fact

I could make no meaning of what had been done to me. It was a brute fact, and it colored everything else.
July 6th, 2025
4

The Dog in the Lake

I wanted to run, but it was too late. They spied our skin shining in the early morning light. "Wemistikoshe!" they taunted, "You're next!" There it was, the familiar taunt, somehow "white man" was a curse word. "Never come this way again!"
July 10th, 2025
5

The Playground

I writhed face down in the muddy school yard, unable to get up, alone, ignored by my first-grade companions. Some time later, the bell rang to end recess, and good boy that I was, I got up, staggered bent over and collapsed on the bench outside our classroom.
July 8th, 2025
6

When Beauty Breaks In

Every strum of the guitar gave voice to the pain I'd felt as a child, to the nothingness I felt now. Sitting alone in my room, my heart was cracking open to the presence of someone I'd known since I was four.
July 12th, 2025

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