My honorary nephew, Jesse, is three years of sweetness, delight, goose eggs, and endless energy. Willing to leap off of tall buildings (furniture) and swing on spider webs (blankets) into his lair (a pile of pillows). He rarely slows down and is always running, or jumping, or climbing something. For all of these reasons, the…
In honor of March Madness, I will write this essay with a thoroughly basketball metaphor! I have good news and I have bad news for sinners striving for better. I’ll start with the bad news. Grace is not an alley-oop. We tend to think of the good news of salvation in Jesus as a collaborative…
It’s 4 am and I’m awake – on purpose. Only two things could make me willingly set my alarm for 3 am: a RunDisney race or a plane flight. In this case, it’s the latter. I ride the airport shuttle this morning and find myself bleary-eyed, awaiting the caffeine to kick in and staring at…
It was supposed to be a fun night. I’ve looked forward to it for months! Last night my mom and I went to a concert featuring Lionel Richie and Earth, Wind & Fire. The music was good and the 70-something musicians could still sing and boogie! Everything was going pretty smoothly… until intermission. Pumped off…
Do you ever feel like God is playing peek-a-boo in your life? Like you just saw Him, but now He seems to be hiding, just out of reach? I am working on my skill of spiritual object permanence. Object permanence, if you are unfamiliar with that term, is a skill acquired in infancy and toddler-dom…
I wrote on the very last page of my journal today. A beautiful stained glass design adorns the outside of this journal containing record of tears and triumphs. This journal that has accompanied and chronicled a year of my life. 2023- full of ovaryactions and changes in my body and my heart. A time when…
Through has become my favorite and least favorite of all the prepositions. It also represented my 2023 better than any other word I’ve found. I choose two words each year. One on January 1st for the upcoming year as a hope for the blank year ahead, and one on December 31 as a reflection of…
Most are familiar with the hymn O Come, All Ye Faithful. The first lyric is “Oh come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!” But what if we don’t feel joyful or triumphant? We sing this song often during Advent –a season defined by waiting and longing and weighty hopefulness. I know about the importance of…
Most of my babysitting years are behind me. I no longer rely on such skills as my primary source of income. In fact, this week I offered my childcare services for free. But it is good to know that the adventure still awaits… Last week I was asked to stay with a friend’s kids while…
What happens when God sticks his ‘but’ in your story?
