I was 15 minutes early for my hair appointment and had some time to kill when a handsome mall salesman lured me over to his kiosk with the promise of a free gift. I instinctively reached for the little packet he waved in front of my face, prepared to snatch it and dart away. But […]
Raising Your Palms on Sunday
Palm leaves sway above the dusty streets of Jerusalem. The city, anxious with celebration, teems with the hope of a people undaunted by adversity— a nation of survivors promised abundance and freedom by a faithful, loving God. The people roar to a crescendo as a humble procession moves through the streets. These people, who were […]
Parental Pardon
One of the most shocking revelations I ever had about my parents was that they’re real people. When I entered adulthood, I realized they don’t know everything. When I took on more adult responsibilities, I realized I didn’t either. As my world shifted, the questions rained: Did this mean my parents really knew what was […]
Two Lefts Don’t Make It Right
Every now and then, as I scroll through my Facebook homepage, I discover another friend that I went to high school with or know from college who is married and has children, and I feel that familiar pang of jealousy – the one that tells me that I’m the same age as that person, so […]
FOLLOWING THE LEADER
Whether we celebrate it, run from it, long for it, or seek to reconfigure it entirely, most of us would agree that the family is a crucial shaping force in our lives. In family life a whole host of concerns—psychological, political, economic, emotional and religious—converge in powerful ways that affect us directly. Family life can […]
When Life Throws You Off Track
In high school, I missed sixty days in one semester because of illness. Previously an ‘A’ student, I was flunking out of high school and was threatened with repeating my junior year. I was transferred to an independent study program where I graduated with a class of four other people: a teen mom, a […]
THE SECRET SIN OF THE CITY
I’d be remiss if I didn’t start out with a confession; like many, I had no clue that there was such a thing as sex trafficking. Sure I’ve heard biblical stories of men working for the right to marry their wives, I’ve read history books of our nation’s poor choices in enslaving African Americans, and I’ve […]
CLOTHED IN CULTURE OR CHARACTER?
An old-fashioned word for a seemingly old-fashioned virtue, the word “modesty” doesn’t have much caché in American culture. Even in religious or Christian circles, the term sometimes smacks of school marms and Puritans, rigid dress codes and killjoys. In the most extreme cases, it conjures up images of Taliban-like sexism and the overzealous (and often […]
Redeeming Tragedy
Jesus orchestrates beauty from what we designate ugly. From what we label broken he crafts something flawless. Jesus restores lives we see as lost. God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. We may not always understand why God allows tragedy to happen, but we trust he uses all things for […]
DON’T FORGET ABOUT GOD
The list included the songs “You Are Good” by Brian Johnson, “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever” by Delirious?, “Blessed Be the Lord God Almighty” by Bob Fitts and “Where You Go, I’ll Go” by Brian and Jenn Johnson. It was a Sunday morning in the early autumn. I had spent the morning on […]