Insane Earthlings

I grew up in a Baptist church in a rapidly growing southern city. The church was widely known for its progressive and intellectual, if not liberal, approach to scripture.   The church had been lead since its inception by bold, outspoken ministers. Theologians with Doctorate degrees from prestigious universities. These powerful men were among the city’s first to stand up for integration and to speak out against the war in Vietnam, never shying from controversy. But in my childhood memory, it was always accepted as a socially appropriate answer to the inevitable southern question of, “Where do you go to Church?” I don’t remember my family using the word Christian to describe ourselves. If the subject came up, we said that we were Baptist. But it was undeniably a Christian church. The progressive stands on social issues were firmly founded in Biblical scholarship. My wife did not grow up in a Baptist Church. She grew up in a Synagogue. The technical term for our relationsh...

Three months Forty Weeks Fifteen Hours Seven months 12 months 18 months Five years Fifteen years Sixteen years Eighteen years Twenty-one years Nine seconds Twenty "pops" One hundred sixty to one hundred eighty One and ninety-six one hundredths minutes Fifty-three  Two billion three hundred sixty-six million seven hundred sixty-nine thousand four hundred fifty It takes a couple on average three months to conceive life. It takes Forty weeks to carry a baby to full term. It takes an average of fifteen hours of labor to give birth. It takes seven months for that baby to learn to crawl. It takes 12 months on average for our children to start taking steps. Your child needs eighteen months to begin talking. We start kindergarten after five years of life. We relish or regret our first kiss about fifteen years in. It takes us sixteen years to enjoy the freedom of driving a car. We earn the right to vote or fight for our country only ...