The latest from my blog
I write on all sorts of topics such as Celebration & Wonder, Community & Discipleship, Intimacy with Christ, and Redemption & Grace. I share my random thoughts in Miscellaneous Musings.
I’m glad you’ve joined me!
A Million Small Decisions
It's odd how a million small decisions can lead up to a changed life. I noticed this recently, on our trip out west. How each unforeseen curvature in the trip didn't really stress me out. We laid out our best plans, scheduled time with specific friends, then kept...
Calling All Story-Stiflers and Neglecters of Their Gifts
I am a storyteller. I don't mean the kind who makes up wild tales (although, I do love fiction and imagination). I don't have to make stuff up. I have the wildest, truest stories... of manna falling through the hands of strangers every, single day for the entire...
Thanks and Lament
*This is a chapter I've written, and figured it would be a good time to share, on this cusp of Thanksgiving. It’s funny how thanksgiving and lament can be like Siamese twins. They seem so opposite, yet at their core I suppose they are both opening us up to see God....
Roman’s Remedy for Israel’s Sin.
Sometimes I read something and it feels like a threaded needle, piercing through different parts of my life and thoughts, pulling them taut and binding them all together. This morning it was Psalm 78. In three different parts of this Psalm it exposes different...
Resolving Conflict (for the Natural Conflict-Avoider)
I am in the middle of a conflict with a friend (No, you are not getting the juicy details as that would be the very antithesis of why I am writing this, and it certainly wouldn't help the conflict resolve, Besides, that would be hypocrisy.). It will have to suffice...
The Sweetest Day (lessons in abiding)
I've been wishing to tell you about one of the most wonderful days of my entire life. I sat, with a baby on my lap, for about 9 and a half hours straight (a few weeks ago). Her mama, who is also one of my favorite people, is a stay-at-home mom, but she had a little...
Don’t Get Buried in the Cemetery of Sameness
Michael Yaconelli once said (before he went to go hang out with Jesus), "Sameness is the cemetery where our distinctiveness is buried." (Messy Spirituality; pg. 79). Recently, I got to hang out with a friend who I hadn't seen in a couple months (which felt like an...
Praise From the Pit
I raced home to tell you about my friend, Elizabeth Yasdani. Perhaps you know her by her exuberant smile. Perhaps you know about her because of her battle with "Stage 12" cancer (I believe that's what she's called it). Usually when I am visiting someone with...
Poison to Pearl: The Memories that Shape Me.
I have some hellacious memories buried in my brain. I could tell you things to make your toes curl, stomach churn, and the blood drain out of your face. I could give you nightmares. Most of my memories are pretty sweet over the 43 years I've been alive, but every...
A Poem For the Igniting And Ignited
I have known too many people, afraid to trust the goodness of God because of suffering. They have never tasted the goodness of God IN their suffering! I have known too many, who doubt and deny the supremacy of Scripture. They have never creased the Spine and felt the...
The Mind-Numbing and the Soul-Satisfying
I've been feeling convicted lately that my coping mechanisms for overwhelm are not actually helping me. They are mind-numbing rather than restful. Oftentimes, after a long work day, or a mentally exhausting day, my body is worn out, my mind is worn out, but I'm not...
The Sight of Ramsina
The day I gave birth to our second son, I met a blind lady named Ramsina. She came to our church for the first and last time that day, and spent the entire afternoon, from the close of service until around 8 pm (when he breathed oxygen for the first time) praying...