Oh, July 4th! It used to be a holiday that I didn’t think much about. While over the years I began to question it’s meaning, I’ll admit, the past 4+ years was I when I seriously began wrestling with wanting to skip it. Donald Trump elected as President shifted something in my soul that I […]
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This week I got a beautiful letter from my friend who has been in prison for 7 years. We write now and then, and he shared that all 200 inmates in his unit have tested positive for COVID and 11 have died so far. As I read his tender and poignant words, I thought about […]
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It seems like almost every week there’s another thing to be traumatized about in the news. Between gun violence and political fiascos with big consequences and natural disasters, so many are wrung out. Each time, there’s some kind a “Christian” response. “Let us keep our guns.” “Trump is God’s guy and it’s time to get […]
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We’re on Day 3 of this Holy Week Series, starting with Palm Sunday and yesterday’s reminder that Jesus’ first act after coming into Jerusalem on a donkey was to turn tables over in the temple. I’m not trying to blog through every scripture or only follow the but rather honor some of the different days of […]
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In 2007, I co-authored a spiritual formation tool for evangelical women called Refresh. It was a pretty cool project for that long ago; the entire book was printed in full color, magazine-style, and centered on 10 stories of real women (most of who were friends) with journaling and reflection questions, small group discussion ideas, and […]
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On the whole, I stay away from political stuff around here. Once in a while I write something, but the divisiveness is just too crazy and I’d much rather talk about other things. At the same time, over the past several years I have become more clear about how important it is to participate in […]
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In the earlier days of my faith, knowing who was and wasn’t a “Christian” was a big deal to me. There was something attached to it that was comforting, familiar, certain. When I look back on those years, “Is he/she a Christian?” would come up in countless ways–related to teachers, doctors, family members, auto mechanics, […]
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People who know me well know I have some very clear pet peeves. Some are related to people gulping when they eat (ask my husband) or kids not answering their phone or texting back when we are supposed to meet somewhere (yes, I’m guilty of it, too), and a host of other insignificant things that annoy […]
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The other day I made up a new word without even knowing it. I was hanging out with some of my favorite people in Denver at our spiritual formation-support-group-hanging-with-people-who-understand-how-hard-this-work-in-the-trenches-is, casually talking about the fall-out of controlling ministry practices. In response to one of the comments, I said, “The truth is that just perpetuates God damage.” […]
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One of the things I have loved the most about blogging is the amazing people I have met along the way. So many hard and beautiful stories are floating around out here with the same themes in them: Some kind of deep dedication to God and church, pain and struggle related to that journey, and […]
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