It is in times of crisis that we learn what is most valuable, and what does not matter... James and John Shelby, identical twins biologically, but polar opposites psychologically. James, the older by a few minutes, is quiet and long-suffering, while, John, the younger, is passionate and lusty. They function to balance one another out in a symbiotic relationship. Slowly but surely, however, choices begin to lead them in opposite directions, until one fateful summer day, when life changes their relationship to a degree unforeseen, and one is left to make sense of his existence without the...

While working the lonely graveyard shift as Police Dispatcher at our local college, I began remembering things about the family that the wife and I had lost one year prior. It was due to their house fire two weeks before Christmas in 1991. Since that time the holidays have been days of deep sadness. We know it will eventually pass, but time goes by so slowly when such memories are concerned. The poem "Dear Lord God" took shape and I jotted it down. It was the first of many that I shared with my wife and my internet group. The responses and moral encouragement was unbelievable. As memories and...