There is a scar on the wall of our garage. Few will ever see it, even fewer know its significance. It emerged slowly, like color bleeding through whitewash on the wall of an ancient building. As the wall continues to yield to the gentle impact of a small gate, the scar has become beauty to…
The Bible instructs us to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess. 5:16-18) and to trade worry for thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6), but the question is how?! In order to appropriately address this question, we need to consider the source of gratitude. Gratitude is the appropriate response to God’s gracious work in the world. It is…
Over the past year, I’ve enjoyed the Grantchester Mysteries, both the novels by James Runcie and the PBS Masterpiece series. The mysteries feature Sidney Chambers, vicar and amateur detective of Grantchester, England. He spends his time all over town—visiting the sick, walking his dog, fixing faucets, and presiding over village fêtes. He’s available for his…
One of the interesting things about becoming an adult is that I find myself asking fewer questions about the meaning of life. When I was a child, I lobbed a constant barrage of “whys” at my parents from the backseat, the dinner table, or our nightly check-ins before bed. Why is the sky blue? Why…
I froze in horror, humiliated, torn between anger and tears. My leader stared, eyes wide open, deer-in-the-headlights style. Someone had just made it abundantly clear they hated me—right in the middle of a room packed with people. The entire group stilled, mouths agape. I don’t know why they hated me; they chose to spew their…
My last church experience was a mixed bag. It started off strong; my husband and I were brought on as leaders. The pastor was ecstatic about our experience in ministry and told us we were going to be “juggernauts” in the church. I became the office manager, I gathered a group of women together to…
I’m venting, pounding my palms on the car steering wheel as I drive the 20 minutes to a Franciscan center where my church is hosting a day retreat. I’m resentful, mad at my husband, and mad at myself because I feel he talked me into something I didn’t want to do. This keeps happening. It’s…
Do you ever have those days — weeks — years, when your spiritual blood runs cold, when your deer-panting thirst has seemingly dried up? Or when you’re parched, dying for a drink from God, but his springed-up well seems to be saturating other cracked hearts but not yours? Disclaimer: There’s no such thing as a simple…
On my first day of student teaching I met Jerome. I was training to work as a special education teacher and was assigned to a summer school class of fourth and fifth graders with autism and other cognitive impairments. It was a lively place. Jerome moved like a bouncing ball, limbering from one part of…
Jeremiah 17:5—8: This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, on the salty flats where no one lives….
Think about your good friends. How many conversations have you had over the last year? How many events have you attended together? In each conversation or at each event, you learned a bit more about your friend, right? Prayer, at its core, is a relationship-building tool—a way to build and sustain a friendship with God….
Shalom. It was a word that in our college days we thought was odd and a bit funny and so when it came up so often that semester of college during chapel, we snapped. It was an immature inside joke that said, hey that word is funny and we don’t know what to do with…
Our all-powerful, all-loving God encourages us to ask him for what we want. But sometimes, after we’ve put it out there, he seems to ignore us. We are then left with the unmet longings and needs that inspired our prayers, as well as questions about his purported benevolence. I have repeated this course multiple times….
The apology seems to be at an all-time high, and simultaneously, an all-time low. Thanks to public figures such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Anthony Weiner, Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, Kristen Stewart, and David Petraeus, Americans have a grid for fallen humans admitting their mistakes in front of others. This is good. What’s not so good is…