Faith
Sticky Note Prayers: Lessons in Perseverance
I couldn’t quite decide if it was obnoxious or darling.
My daughter just turned 11. She’s normally the hardest of my children to buy for as her tastes change frequently. This year, she had very definitive ideas about what she wanted. And she let us know:
I found a small yellow sticky note on my laptop screen one morning: “Mama, can I please have bunk beds for my birthday. It doesn’t cost money, it only costs time.” Read More
Keep out. Come in.
Are privacy and authenticity mutually exclusive?
The call for authenticity has taken up residence in yet another forum. It’s no longer the mantra just of small groups and friendship; now blog posts and Facebook status updates are required to contain some degree of personal drama to qualify the writer as being ‘real.’ It appears there’s no venue in which privacy is deemed appropriate or even important. Read More
Caution: Men at Worship
Grungy clothes. Sweaty brows. Dusty feet. How did this manual labor constitute a church service?
Church looked a little different this weekend. Our ‘Sunday best’ involved work gloves, hats and rolled-up sleeves. Our congregation took to the hills for a little old fashioned work.
We ambled our way up the hill and put our shoulders into the effort. I watched my children and husband find their groove and settled into my own. My body engaged in its task and my mind began to muse. The lessons were plentiful… Read More
You, Me and Mona
My fair skin has been ravaged by sun damage: I’m wrinkled beyond my years and scarred from removing multiple Basal Cell cancer lesions. My brown mop has enough gray hairs in it that nobody can mistake them for ‘highlights’ anymore. My teeth are anything but brilliant white. I’m over 40 and overweight.
And sometimes all of that undermines my confidence, when surrounded by the features of my slender, tanned or blond female peers. Our society values those physical attributes more than the ones God gave me genetically. In today’s American culture, the ones I posses are not regarded as beautiful. Read More
Behind the Sign
His eyes were a piercing blue. I might never have known.
On Sunday, our church supplied everyone with a ‘care package’ of sorts for us to give to a homeless person or someone with similar need. The cinch sacks contained a blanket for a cold night, a fresh pair of socks, some granola bars, a beanie, a small gift card and a water bottle. Stowing it in the car makes it ready for giving when the need presents itself. One morning this week, as we left to run errands, I nearly took it out of the car because it was something of a nuisance underfoot. Read More
Plates of Plenty
It was one of the most significant meals our family has ever shared.
Part of my duty as a Christian parent in a first world country is to educate my children that their abundance is a gift from God not meant exclusively for them but to be shared.
There are multitudes of ways to convey this message to them: mission trips, books, and child sponsorship, to name but a few. As I reflected, I found a growing desire to facilitate a memorable evening for our family as a teaching tool on the Gospel’s exhortation to social mercy. Read More
Unbiased Ears
“The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”
— John 10:3b, 4 ESV
It’s right there in the text, as plain as day.
But it’s easy to miss.
This passage of scripture is subtitled “I am the Good Shepherd” in our Bibles (though subtitles aren’t in John’s manuscript). As westerners, the subtitle conjures an image of a man cresting a grassy, green hill with his staff in hand, prodding the sheep along from behind the flock. Perhaps dogs are chasing the wooly creatures to keep them from falling into harm’s way as well.
And yet, that’s not at all what the verse says. Read More
Duty with Dependence
“Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.”
— John Hancock, 1st Signer of the Declaration of Independence
Independence Day, for many Americans, is synonymous with grilled meat, baked beans, potato salad, lawn chairs and fireworks. Perhaps a watermelon thrown in for good measure.
While celebrating in such a fashion is certainly enjoyable, Independence Day is meant to remind us of our hard-fought liberation from oppression. Read More
Social Justice: Craze or Creed?
Having a social justice platform is downright ubiquitous these days. Blogs, talks and conferences on the array of justice topics abound in religious and secular circles alike.
But is it just a craze that will follow Silly Bandz and Beanie Babies into oblivion?
I certainly hope not.
After spending the last few months studying the book of James, and attending the Justice Conference in February, I have a fairly strong opinion on this topic. Read More
Being Boaz: Our Role as the Kinsman-Redeemer
In the book of Ruth, we meet Boaz, a man who heeded God’s instruction to the Israelites 
to not glean to the edges of their fields. Through his faithfulness, Ruth, a destitute young widow and a foreigner, was able to glean food for herself and her mother-in-law from his crops. When he learned of her vulnerability, Boaz sought to protect Ruth as she worked in the fields (Ruth 2:9,22). Perhaps he knew too well how easily women could be taken advantage of. After all, his mother, Rahab, was the harlot of Jericho who helped the men of Israel escape when pursued by their enemies (Joshua 2).