Latest Posts

All the Pieces of You

  O Lord, you have searched me and known me. Psalm 139:1 Jesus sees me fully. The woman sitting on the floor in the train station is hungry. Or is she a swindler? Her dogs look fat and happy even as she intones her blessings on passersby and asks for euros to fill their water bowl. Maybe she is going without so they can survive. The boy who struggles up the stairs with two suitcases… Read More

Silence I Can’t Hear You

He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. (Psalm 107:29-30).   Silence, you elusive friend; Doors are creaking, keyboards tapping, I can’t hear you.   Let me settle at the sunny table in the kitchen; Perhaps there I will find you for a few moments. No! Pans are banging, dishes clanging;  The annoying crinkle of plastic bags;  Hands searching for breakfast pastries.   Maybe in the corner of the living room,… Read More

Outside

For R and C, and all who feel outside. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.  Hebrews 13:12 He spoke quietly, gently.  We were always taught that the mzungu (white man) knew best. That his way was always better. So I felt shame when asked to lead. I remained quiet, afraid my opinions would not matter. Centuries of colonization left their indelible mark on his… Read More

Your Gentleness Made Me Great

Your gentleness made me great. 2 Samuel 22:36   Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30 Great: of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above the normal or average.… Read More

A Lament for Our Children Part Two

O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.  Psalm 10:17-18 Lament: a passionate expression of grief or sorrow; a song, piece of music, or poem expressing sorrow. Lament is an expression found in many cultures across the world. What makes biblical lament different… Read More

Run with Endurance

for happy feet Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the… Read More

Never Too Late

He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age. Ruth 4:15 Restoration and nourishment are possible for the young… and the old. But can this be true in the face of excruciating loss? Loss brought Naomi and Ruth’s lives to a halt. Huddled in hopelessness, they clung to each other wondering what to do. So many losses. The death of a husband, a father, a patriarch. Loss of… Read More

Last of All

For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake… 1 Corinthians 4:9-10. The great man of God, Paul the apostle, lived an examined life. A life observed, a life measured, a life exhibited for all to see. In the beginning a murderous persecutor of the Lord’s… Read More

By Faith He Refused

For my little sister. Thank you. By faith Moses refused…choosing rather to suffer. Hebrews 11:24, 25 I am tucked away in a beautiful place as I write today. Gracious homes with wrap-around porches, along streets lined with palm trees, face the inlet where seagrass blows in the gentle spring breeze. The sun sets right in front of my sister’s beautiful house. The rhythms of family life thrum around me each day as children go to… Read More

The Things That Are Not

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are. I Corinthians 1:27-28 The song of bending trees rose on the wind thinly, like sadness. Melancholy minors waltzed through the crisp morning air under steel-gray skies. It was… Read More