There’s a lot of temptation in ministry to be big. Big building, big budget, big numbers. As an author, I travel to speak at a lot of big churches, and I’m always amazed at their reach, their ministry organization, their long lists of volunteers and staff. One of the best parts of my job is…
faithfulness
How I’m Reading the Bible in 2025
A quick scroll on any social media platform shows me one thing about the people I follow: everyone is mapping out their goals for 2025. Some are planning diets; others are beginning new exercise regimens. (Most are doing both.) Some are making financial goals or career plans. I’ve been encouraged to see many people making…
It All Holds True
The sunlight lengthens across the dining room table where I sit and write. It’s late afternoon and in this part of the world, we’re enjoying that gold stretching of light at the end of the day. I couldn’t sleep last night, tossing and turning and trying to figure out why I’ve had so much trouble…
What the Seasons Say
A few days ago on my early morning walk, I noticed some leaves drifting down from the neighborhood trees. A few leaves scattered in the breeze, falling right in front of me. I happily crunched over them because when the trees start undressing, I remember that the heat of a long, discouraging summer will certainly…
Sorrow, Joy, and Forty Years
A warm June rain soaks the world outside my window. We’ve had a few of those wild, humid summer storms that send us to the basement listening for the tornado sirens. But not today. Today, it’s just a good, gentle soaking. While I sit at my dining room table tapping away on my laptop, everything…
I Need Every Story
I’m reading a book about a man I’ve never met. But, deep down, I feel like I know him, you know? I keep reading his story and parsing it for meaning. There’s definitely something there. He led a nation after their first real leader died. And this nation he led? Nomadic. No country of their…
The Power of a Hidden Word
A few years ago, my mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Between the day the tumor was discovered and the day it was excised from her head, she had to wait about six weeks. Living in another state, I called often to see how she was doing, to see if the mercury at the…
The Danger of Drifting in a Pandemic
Last summer, my family spent a week at the beach on Tybee Island in Georgia. Like most vacation beach spots, the Tybee shore is dotted with brightly colored condominium rentals anchored in the sand. While swimming in the ocean with my eleven-year-old son, I pointed out a bright yellow set of condos and told him…
Pruning
I had to watch a YouTube video first. I had never dead-headed a rosebush before, but the razor-sharp secateurs in my hand promised to make it an easy job. I watched the man on the video three times to be sure I had the process right. Grab the dead-head, go down to the first five-leaf…
Losing Youth, Gaining Growth
This morning I realized a universal truth for women: under-eye concealer only goes so far. I’ve tried a lot of beauty products over the last few years to slow the visible process of aging, but no matter what concoction I slather on my face every night or sponge around my eyes in the morning, the…