Latest Posts

  • What Grows Among the Rubbish
    Sunday, July 24th, 2022     Audrey Frank     Start the Conversation

    Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.  1 Peter 4:8 The cluster of purple wild asters greeted me like a bouquet held out in the hands of a child. I paused my walk home and crouched down to take a closer look. Perfectly formed, delicate petals opened to reveal small yellow centers. They were a work of art. A pleasant focus at the end of a long, sweltering… Read More

  • The Tale of the Storm Thrush (or, How to Rebuild a Ruined Nest)
    Sunday, July 17th, 2022     Audrey Frank     Start the Conversation

    Afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and I will lay your foundations with sapphires. Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones.  Isaiah 54:11-12 There is a fat-bellied bird in Britain who has two names. Ornithologists call him a Mistle Thrush, but in the countryside where he is often seen, he is known as the… Read More

  • The Wildness of Your Presence
    Sunday, July 10th, 2022     Audrey Frank     Start the Conversation

    Written from a hidden ranch deep in the Kenyan mountains as my husband and I sat in Jesus' presence for examen among the wild creatures.   The Wildness of Your Presence   Sometimes Your presence is a wild place. Air thrumming with life Wildness As if I emerged into a sacred wilderness Where You and Your wild things Commune.   I am the tame one here, The one who thinks Instead of abiding, Who sits… Read More

  • All the Pieces of You
    Sunday, July 3rd, 2022     Audrey Frank     Start the Conversation

      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
    Sunday, June 26th, 2022     Audrey Frank     Start the Conversation

    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
    Sunday, June 19th, 2022     Audrey Frank     Start the Conversation

    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
    Sunday, June 12th, 2022     Audrey Frank     Start the Conversation

    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

  • Parenting Mistakes: Forgiveness for What I Didn’t Mean to Do to You
    Sunday, June 5th, 2022     Audrey Frank     One Comment

    If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord’s commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them…he shall be forgiven. Leviticus 4:2, 31 Dear Child, You looked so handsome today as your face peered at me over the many miles that separate us. You are a man now, boy of mine. I love the familiar way your brows knit together like a wooly worm and your eyes look to the… Read More

  • A Lament for Our Children Part Two
    Sunday, May 29th, 2022     Audrey Frank     One Comment

    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
    Sunday, May 22nd, 2022     Audrey Frank     Start the Conversation

    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