“That kind of anger is like manna. Even if it is good, it goes bad overnight if you try to keep it” (Evangellyfish, p. 224).
Hidden Likenesses
“The first thing she did was hand him the check, like Jacob driving his flocks toward Esau, not that either of them was thinking about this exactly” (Evangellyfish, p. 221).
That Doesn’t Work
“‘What bothers me is that I will have to talk to him. Sometimes I think I have forgiven him, and other times the thought of talking to him without fighting just creeps me out. I don’t know how to talk to that man without being angry. I haven’t done it for years.’ John sat there …
Tumbling Repentance
“When the idea of repenting had first begun occurring to her, she had thought it would involve a few outstanding big-ticket items . . . But when it finally happened to her, the whole thing was far more illuminating than she had thought it would be and went all the way back to her girlhood. …
Thruppa-da-da
“But occasionally a phrase from the prayer book would create a little spiritual thruppa-da-da, much like what happens when you forget to put the lawn mower in the garage for the winter, and try to get it started in the spring. Nothing much there, but occasionally there might be a noise that might indicate that …
Can’t Sell It If You Don’t Know What It Is
“His agent was working on a project for him, but said that he couldn’t do much until he had a hook or something. ‘You losing your faith? Recovering it? In between? I gotta know who to call, Chad'” (Evangellyfish, p. 216).
The Sailboat and the Lighthouse
“Brian had always been thoughtful and deliberate about spiritual things, and he had been assembling the pieces for a number of years. He had been very diligent in his own way, but he was like a guy putting together a jigsaw puzzle of a lighthouse, but one where things got mixed up in the closet, …
A Quite Noticeable Effect
“The talk had been on confession of sin, and the effect of it had been the equivalent of dropping a hand grenade in your average living room goldfish bowl” (Evangellyfish, p. 209).
More Than Enough Butterscotch
“This was not really supposed to mean anything in particular, but the elders were not about to press him on it. All they wanted was for smooth words to flow over them (and everybody else in the audience) like molten butterscotch, and it was looking as though they were going to get everything they were …
The Racoons of Market Share
“During the scandal, before Chad had accepted the pressure to resign, these graphics impresarios had been just so many advertising hounds locked in the kennels of indecision, with the racoons of market share running through the woods pretty much as they pleased” (Evangellyfish, p. 202).