I wake with a headache and a stiff neck. I shiver in the breeze of the open window and pull the sheet up to my chin. I breathe a prayer for those out west who can barely breathe for the heat of the air, for those who can barely breathe for the heat of life, […]
when God smokes
I’ve started a new book. Well, I haven’t exactly started to actually read it yet. Like starting at page one. I’ve been thumbing through it to decide if I really want to read a book with such a scandalous title as The God Who Smokes written by someone named Timothy Stoner. Honestly, my first thought […]
in the waiting room of unanswered prayer
The hurt’s so heavy, but the waiting room’s so full. There’s not a chair in sight. So many needs. And so you slide down the wall to the floor, and hug your chin to your knees, and the nurse calls another, and someone else takes their seat. It happens over and over, and you […]
bluebirds of sadness
I removed the makings of a nest. Several times. But then I got sick, and when I made it back to the box in the side yard, they’d laid their eggs. Cream-colored, speckled brown. And so I left them. And watched them. Since they were busy here, I reasoned, they’d leave the other box […]
who’s in control here?
A brilliant New Testament scholar once asked a group of us what is the most important word in the New Testament. We all took stabs at it. Was it love? Faith? Hope? Sanctification? Grace? “No,” he said. “It’s the little word . . . What do you think it could be? I’m sharing from […]
bless the mamas
They mother the motherless, the mamas in this orphan village. The team that traveled to Jeremie, Haiti, the month before us went specifically to love on them. The photo of women washing the feet of women who wash feet nearly undid me. These mamas carry hearts heavy with Jesus. Though some bring their own children […]
the finger of God
I see God’s creative finger in all seasons. But never more, I think, than in the spring when life unfurls. These are the days when all that glitters is green. Yet life is sometimes blood-tinged like the color of death in this new leaf. That also carries the color of hope. Because life is in […]
and then i jump
I brush the hair from my mouth and eyes, pull hands up into sweatshirt sleeves, and lean into the wind as we trudge up the path. We gather under the pavilion to struggle into harnesses, clip heavy ropes to anchor loops, tighten helmets. I feel much less brave than I did when I signed […]
when you think you’re just josiah
We’re at Steak ‘n Shake. “Takhomasak,” gleams the neon sign over the counter. It was years before I “got” it. I’d frown. “Tahk’-oh-mah’-sak.” I’d say it slow. I’d say it fast. It sounded Japanese. “Car, table, counter, or takhomasak?” Ooooh. “Take home a sack.” Duh! I’d stressed the wrong spots. Dennis and I spoon chocolate […]
time to stand and stare
It’s the morning after the morning we remembered the mourning and celebrated the Morning. D has risen early again, because it’s Monday and time to move into a new week of busyness as usual. I want to burrow down under white down, but there’s a light that shines in the dark, and I hear him […]
