So you’re a Christian. You love Jesus. You love the Bible. Perhaps as you were growing up, you were at church every time the doors opened because you found comfort, welcome, and community there. Maybe you were a passionate, on-fire, purity-ring-wearing youth group kid who “rededicated” your life to the Lord every six months or…
Summer camp was an annual adventure when I was growing up. Something about a week in a cabin full of girls my age was so enchanting. Like most of us who’ve had this experience, I always left with a set of newfound best friends who promised to stay in touch. Inevitably, we didn’t, but those…
Nathan, one of the main characters in Wendell Berry’s novel, Hannah Coulter, has seen war up close and personally. Lucky enough to make it home from World War II, Nathan knows how savage the wide world can be. When he returns from his front-row seat at the Battle of Okinawa, all he wants to do…
Several years ago, I worked in a hospital emergency room, greeting patients and families as they entered the ER. My responsibility was to see that everyone was as comfortable as possible while waiting for treatment. Just a few months into my employment, I began to know our “regulars.” These were folks whose emotional pain was…
Lord, help me to realize how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to know that I am here for but a moment more. (Psalm 39:4 TLB) I was downstairs on our elliptical, trying to get in a quick workout before I had to run my girls to their afternoon dance class. I…
I was on the phone with a friend the other night for two hours. I was facing a big deadline—800 words to be exact—but I also knew that my friend needed me. Her situation is probably not unlike yours in some way or another. She’s facing family struggles, a relative’s death, indecision about her future,…