On a Thursday afternoon in March I am sitting in my recliner with the dog on my lap. It is not vacation. It is not my day off. It’s weird and unsettling. I’m home like many others because we are in the middle of a pandemic. In the U.S. we are watching as some other … Read More
On January 17, 1991 between 6:30 and 7:00pm I was in a friend’s dorm room writing a paper on their computer. I had the news on in the background and wasn’t paying too much attention, at least not until the clips of bombs being dropped on Bagdad. In those moments I felt as if everything … Read More
I gave up trying to be happy and joyful just because it’s the holiday season a long time ago. Growing up, I thought I was the only one who didn’t have the perfect Norman Rockwell (or, these days, Hallmark) family. Nearly every year I would end up in tears on Christmas day because it was … Read More
Gratitude is a part of true healing. One can regain wellness, but without gratitude healing remains incomplete, at least on a spiritual level. Think about the ten lepers Jesus healed as he traveled between Samaria and Galilee. Ten were healed and told to show themselves to the priest. Only one of them returned to give … Read More
What are you doing here? Are you running away? Are you exhausted? Are you without hope? Are you looking for God, hoping God will show up and fix all that is broken? Will you eat the bread that is offered? Will you withstand the truth of where God is? Will you get up and go … Read More
Peter may have had a learning disability and Paul may have had MS. For some people these suppositions might be distressing or unnerving. For me, they are comforting and hopeful. If God could use Paul and Peter, not in spite of their disabilities, but through them, then there is hope for me, for you, for … Read More
…let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Don’t tell. Don’t share this with anyone. Keep that to yourself. Nobody … Read More
When I was 16 someone asked me what I was giving up for Lent. I didn’t have answer I could speak out loud. So many of my friends were giving up desserts, or chocolate, or some other edible treat. That wasn’t going to work for me as I had been struggling with an eating disorder … Read More
Transfiguration is here again. The story brings with it an invitation to follow Jesus up a mountain, sit, pray, and expect God to show up. The trick is that we have to allow God to be God and not comply with what we think is appropriate. Peter, James, and John were likely dumbfounded when Jesus … Read More
It is human nature to reject that which we fear or do not understand. We want to protect ourselves and those we love from pain, illness, suffering, and, really, all forms of distress. We desire life to be clear and easy, preferably with assurances of getting to heaven. While these desires are understandable, they can … Read More
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