Feeling God, Part 2

Posted on November 11, 2014November 12, 2014 by Mike Mason

We cannot speak of contemplative prayer without addressing the notorious problem of controlling or silencing one’s thoughts. You may ask: In order to practice this prayer of quiet, of focussing on deep feeling, how can I completely still my mind? When I try to become quiet, my thoughts race more than ever. Well, the brain was made for thinking, and you can’t stop your thoughts any more than you can stop grass from growing. Besides, you want to remain open to thoughts that may come to you from the Lord. So don’t even try to suppress your thoughts.Continue reading→

Feeling God, Part 1

Posted on November 4, 2014February 16, 2015 by Mike Mason

This week I begin a four-part series on contemplative prayer. I call it “Feeling God” because it strikes me as odd when Christians talk of hearing God’s voice when what we really mean is feeling God’s voice or presence.

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Christmas Book Trailer

Posted on October 25, 2014November 8, 2014 by Mike Mason

Here it is! The official book trailer for Twenty-One Candles: Stories for Christmas. I don’t mind saying that I’m mighty proud of this book and deeply pleased with it. After all, it gathers together twenty-one stories that span my entire 30+ years of writing. Originally written to send out as Christmas cards to friends, I now send these stories into the world.

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Yabbakadoodles!

Posted on October 21, 2014November 8, 2014 by Mike Mason

What, you may wonder, is the meaning of this outlandish title? Thirteen years ago my friend Chris Walton (pictured with antlers) spoke this word to me in the parking lot of Ricky’s All Day Grill, and we burst into gales of laughter. Find out why in this story, a selection from my new book published this week, Twenty-One Candles: Stories for Christmas.

(Incidentally, most of the stories in this book are fiction, but this one is true.)

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Angel at the Door

Posted on October 14, 2014November 8, 2014 by Mike Mason

Jacob wrestled with an angel. These days we wrestle with computers.

On Saturday morning I was locked in a mighty struggle with my iMac. Or rather, it was the iMac that was locked, and I was striving to unlock it. I had to repair my hard disk, but every time I tried to run the repair program, a big gray padlock appeared on the screen, demanding something called a “firmware password.”

For the life of me I could not recall the password, nor could I find it recorded anywhere. It was like being locked out of my own house. Just then a knock came at the door.

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Death of a Luddite

Posted on October 7, 2014December 10, 2020 by Mike Mason

Those of you who have visited my website a few times will know that while I have a blog page, I’ve posted to it only occasionally. That is about to change. From now on I plan to post a new blog once a week. To explain why, I begin with a piece called “Death of a Luddite.”
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Now on Facebook!

Posted on July 28, 2014October 1, 2014 by Mike Mason

I’ve finally joined the rest of the world and launched a Facebook page. Should you feel so inclined (and you should!) please like my page and invite your friends to like me. When I reach 1000 likes, my publisher has promised to buy each one of you a virtual ice cream cone.
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New Christmas Book: Twenty-One Candles

Posted on April 8, 2014November 8, 2014 by Mike Mason

I’m leafing through a file of old Christmas stories with a view to gathering them into a collection. For three decades I’ve written a new Christmas story every year to give out to friends as a greeting card. A tradition that pre-dates the internet, it’s been one way to get instantly published. We also host an annual party on Christmas Adam (if you’re not familiar with that term, read “Yabba-ka-doodles!”) at which I read my latest story aloud. So I’ve not only had my own publishing house but a radio station as well.

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Elephant Charge

Posted on March 12, 2012September 30, 2014 by Mike Mason

[Note: Thanks for this story to Dr. Jim Foulkes, who served as a missionary doctor in Africa for four decades. This is my version of a story he told me, but you can read Dr. Jim’s own account in his wonderful book To Africa With Love: A Bush Doc’s Story. Furthermore, Dr. Jim is presently at work on a collection of 28 of his hunting tales. I can hardly wait!]

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Many are aware that St. Francis preached to the birds, and St. Anthony to a congregation of fish. But let’s remember that before these saints ever preached to the animals, the animals first preached to them.

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How I Tried to Change My Name

Posted on March 12, 2012September 30, 2014 by Mike Mason

On February 3, 2012, I celebrated my 60th birthday. The day itself I spent quietly, but the next day I had a party. My friend Andrew Case, accompanied by Kristina Hutchison, played a living room concert, so the evening was filled with music, good friends, and a fabulous chocolate cake courtesy of Karen.

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