SELF PORTRAIT

■ DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: Nov. 17, Paragould

■ WHEN I AM WRITING, I NEED: Dedicated time and space. I write from my home office, using my great-great grandfather’s writing desk from Fayette Co., Texas c. 1870.

■ IF I COULD HOP ON A PLANE RIGHT NOW, I WOULD GO TO: The island of Iona in the Hebrides Islands of Western Scotland, one of the “thinnest” places on God’s earth.

■ IF I WAS NOT AN EPISCOPAL PRIEST, I WOULD BE WORKING AS A: I could not do anything else. God created me to be a priest. However, in another life I’d like to have been the U.S. ambassador to Malta. I’ve been obsessed with that little Mediterranean island country since childhood. I’ve spent quite a bit of time there.

■ MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE DESSERT: Ice cream, hands-down.

■ AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT THAT MUST BE PRESENT IN A CHURCH: Grace: The embrace of God’s grace, grace for one another, and grace for God’s children and world outside the church.

■ A FAVORITE VERSE OF SCRIPTURE: “I believe; help my

unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) m A FAVORITE SONG LYRIC: “Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.” (From “Strawberry Fields Forever,” by The Beatles).

■ SOMETHING I WAS TAUGHT EARLY ON THAT HAS REMAINED WITH ME TO THIS DAY: We cannot unsay the things we have said. Once words are breathed into the world, they are there. We can only seek and hope to redeem them.

■ THE FOUR GUESTS AT MY FANTASY DINNER PARTY: The Apostle Paul; St. Brigid of Ireland; Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer and George Washington.

■ ONE WORD THAT SUMS ME UP: I wish I could say “cool,” but “earnest” is far more accurate.