This year, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to travel to Africa, twice. I hope to write more in the days to come, but for now I’m sharing this post that appeared on The Lulu Tree’s blog…please go there to read the rest, and to learn about what God is doing in Sierra Leone, Uganda, […]
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Sugarcane and banana trees stand in rows as far as I can see, and the sky is a watercolor-wash of blues and grays heavy with the coming rain. We walk the rutted road, the dust rusty beneath our feet and the air presses down thick as we breathe in the heat of the day, my […]
Read moreGod is often compared to fire in the Bible. When you read about fire, it usually means one of three things: an indicator of God’s presence, a means of His purification, or a display of His passion. This is part three of the series, how fire represents God’s passion. I procrastinated in writing this piece. They say that the […]
Read moreGod is often compared to fire in the Bible. When you read about fire, it usually means one of three things: an indicator of God’s presence, a means of His purification, or a display of His passion. This is part two of the series, how fire represents God’s purification of our hearts. This post was written for the […]
Read moreOn our way to Idaho, we drive into thick, dark smoke. The West is burning, over a million acres consumed by wildfires raging out of control. The smell of smoke hangs in the air, the sun is a muted orb of pale yellow barely visible through the haze. I’ve seen this before, the way a […]
Read moreIn a local Walmart yesterday, two worlds crashed head-on at an unmarked intersection. The wreck went largely unnoticed, although it caused a great deal of inconvenience. There were no fatalities. Or, maybe, there were. You see, I was minding my own business that day. Doing the things we do here in America, the things I take […]
Read more“Oh, that’s easy,” he said, gesturing to the water-damage on the ceiling. “Just cut out that old drywall and pop a new piece in, blend it in with drywall compound, and Bob’s your uncle.” Which, according to the Urban Dictionary, is another way of saying “your success is guaranteed.” Except that Bob is not my uncle. […]
Read moreBurnout. Chances are good you’ve experienced it…if you’ve got a ministry, you know what ministry burnout feels like. Whether you’re a missionary, a pastor’s wife, a counselor, a teacher, a mother, a wife, a worship leader, a Sunday school teacher, a writer, a nurse, an evangelist, a manager…you know what I’m talking about when I […]
Read morewatercolor art by my daughter (based on this artwork) Let me start by saying: I am not a feminist. I’ve never considered myself to be. The best essay I ever wrote in high school earned the worst grade I ever got on a writing assignment, because the topic was “When I grow up…” and I […]
Read moreRe-posting this piece from the archives, for all the mothers in my life. Time goes slowly in the heat of a fever. The hours limp by in a fog of exhaustion, sticky with sweat and liquid Tylenol. I count the hours, the long ones that lay stretched out before us on day three of a […]
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