The Rabbit Room

She Slays in Mysterious Ways

The Faerie Queene is an epic poem written by Edmund Spenser in the late 1500s. This pioneering work of world-building inspired writers like William Wordsworth, John Milton, James Thomson, Alfred Tennyson, John Keats, George MacDonald, and L. Frank Baum, and it was a favorite of C.S. Lewis.

A Wooden Boy Unbound: What Pinocchio Means to Me

I’m four years old and staring at a screen. 

A bizarre figure flails about on a stage, hands and feet jerked by strings. That long nose seems strangely familiar. It’s Pinocchio, but not the Pinocchio I know from my Little Golden Book paraphrase of the Disney movie; this is some kind of public-television dance production.

Introducing the Gift Edition of Every Moment Holy

I was at the SING! Conference this past week and had the pleasure to promote both Rabbit Room Press and Square Halo Books. During my time there I can’t say which I enjoyed more: seeing people exclaim “I have that!” as they point at the Every Moment Holy banner or watching the looks of those unfamiliar with the books realize what a treasure they are. But my favorite memory was talking to a guy in a cool NeedToBreathe t-shirt who nonchalantly pulled out of his backpack an original hardback version of volume one for me to sign.

Rich Mullins, The Sparrow-Watcher

My mother wept when Elvis died. I was an eight-year-old kid watching a woman shed tears for a person she’d never met, and frankly, it didn’t compute. I couldn’t fathom that a person’s life and lyrics could possibly reach through a needle on a vinyl record and find resonance with total strangers.

It was only when Rich Mullins died, twenty-five years ago today, that I finally understood.

Abiding Dependence: An interview with Ron Block

It’s been a decade or more since I had my first conversation with Ron Block, but I can still recall the primary subject that afternoon: identity in Christ. That is because nearly every chat I’ve been privileged to have with Ron has, in some way, circled back around to that idea.

Frederick Buechner, God’s Handkerchief (Part 1)

“What’s lost is nothing to what’s found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup.”

When I learned of Frederick Buechner’s passing, it rolled through me like a subterranean tidal wave. And it’s no wonder! Nobody, other than my parents, has shaped my life—heart, mind, and spirit—more than Frederick Buechner through his writing.

Jayber Crow and Naming Your Calling

“The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.” -Psalm 23:1-3

Mullins, Chesterton, and the Renovaré Book Club

My first experience with a book club of sorts was more like a boot camp. It happened over 25 years ago when, much to my delight, I found myself serving as one of the opening acts for Rich Mullins on a 63-city tour.