In the beginning, we are told, God created the heavens and the earth. Before this moment, the earth was formless and void, a chaotic nothingness. God enters the scene and with a Word brings order out of the madness. The beautiful order does not last long, we go on to read. With one bite, one …
This retreat guide is intended for the person who is curious about an individual retreat but unsure where to start. Included are practical tools, things to consider, and a brief overview of the nature and purpose of personal retreats. To begin is to acknowledge that any inkling, any curiosity that you have about time away …
NOTE: This is the first installment of a series available only through email. Sign up for the rest of the series here: A few weeks after my son turned 5 years old, he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. The next morning, we went to his favorite park and saw a friend he happily …
A Caregiver’s Guide to Soul Care (Especially During a Pandemic) Read More »
It started with buying life insurance. I’ve never had it, and started looking at policies the week my mother-in-law was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She was going to die, and I, helpless to stop it, fretted about other, controllable things instead. My mind dimmed, closing around one singular idea: what would happen to my kids …
If you would have told me months ago that a pandemic was coming, I would have gotten the formula all wrong on what would be easy and what would be difficult. I would have known it would be hard not to go where I wanted, or buy what I needed at the store. I would …
Yesterday, my son and I went out to find some milk and eggs. In normal times, I wouldn’t shop, since we have about a week’s worth already. But these are not normal times. I pushed my cart down aisle after mostly empty aisle. Mounds of spice packets in perfect abundance, flanked by large gaps of …
Today, my cancer anniversary can legally have a drink. I was twenty when I was diagnosed with stage three melanoma. Last year when I turned forty, it felt like the 20 years I lived past cancer nullified the 20 before- as if only then did I break even. This year feels like a bonus, like …
As you’ve surely realized by now, we did not send out Christmas cards this year. I could give a litany of the sad things this year brought us: grief, death, loss. I could detail the rejections I’ve received, both professional and personal. I could tell you how it all feels like too much, how I’m …
You know that emoji face with all the teeth showing, yet the eyes are dead and unsmiling, conveying a deep sense that things are about to get weird? That’s the face I’m making for the entirety of this post, and it is important to me that you know that, right off the bat. I don’t …
Why We Don’t ‘Do Santa’ (and Other Ways to Pick a Fight This Christmas) Read More »
Later today I will go to a birthday party for a child turning one. And although this child will have no idea what is happening, and no ongoing recollection of the day’s events, we will all coo and cheer as if our lives depended on it. I was talking with James (the dad) about his …