Recently I had the privilege of hearing two brilliant pastors on different ends of the country speak – live – and directly to me as if they had read the whole messy complicated backstory before their talk began. First, I listened to Pastor Jim Samra’s teaching all the way from our former church in Michigan (thanks to live web streaming)…
-
-
Time works hard. 15 years ago I heard the expression “all in God’s time,” and as a confirmed control freak, I was quite intrigued with this mystery. I was painstakingly seeking the truth of God, flip-flopping around the structures of religion and new age fads, so the notion of “God’s timing” as something beyond my control was new. I remember…
-
In this war Our enemy likes to keeps us off kilter. Spinning our heads. Tossing in grenades of worry. Obstacles meant to keep us from moving forward with purpose. Yet the greatest warrior king of all time beckons us to trust. Shedding fear and doubt. Shouting strength and giving glory to God. The one who is our armor For all…
-
Psychologist Barry Schwartz in his now-classic TED talk on the paradox of choices identified a slightly twisted form of Opportunity Cost as one of the downsides to the endless choices we have (indeed, we demand) in our culture today. “The imagined alternatives induce you to regret the decision you made and the regret subtracts from the satisfaction of your choice…
-
We all have issues with bones. These bones are unique parts of us that are from our childhood or other [character-building] events, or simply because we were born with them. They’re dense as an oak. And they are part of our framework whether we want them or not. Like my big feet, in some ways I’m stuck with them. My…
-
The newly appointed CEO of Lockheed Martin was able to accept her new position extra-quick because the former CEO apparently couldn’t keep his affairs in order. Literally. (Note: I’m sure that Mrs. Hewson is a better choice for CEO anyway, and Lockheed’s handling seems to be highly professional.) Colonel Petraeus has succeeded in dropping the level of conversation about his…
-
One of the significant slivers of conditioning that I’ve had to wrestle as a shattered-and-redeemed woman, is many years of training that sin has tiers. Sort of like a small, medium and double-triple-XL spectrum of sin measurement. Unfortunately when I learned the beautiful gift of confession, it was apparently attached to a commensurate punishment, which of course, meant my 12-year-old…
-
I have enjoyed the ministry of Emily Freeman’s Dear Me. I’m late for her submission, but here goes. As I finally sit down to non-chalantly toy with the concept, I’m more in the mood for a list than a letter. It might be because it’s Friday night and we’re watching an odd animated movie by a cozy fire. Or it…
-
My family thinks I’m obsessed with pulling weeds. Truly, I have been known to stop mid-stride to pull one weed, wearing heels and white trousers, carrying my laptop, only to find myself amassing huge green piles as I work my way around the front walk. They could be right. What’s more, my husband is patient with my chronic disease of…
-
They broke into the iconic harmony of Carry On My Wayward Son, and the nostalgia-hungry crowd stood to their feet. Of all the 70’s bands touring the world right now, presumably because they are managing some equation of “need” and “want”, we find ourselves at the Kansas concert. Really? Kansas? Eldest sister saw Aerosmith in Detroit and OH! how I would have…
-
It finally came. Like many, I followed closely as my best-friend-Don (who I’ve not yet technically met actually in real person face-to-face) struggled and amazed everyone with the whole GET IT TOLD process. The BLJ book, the other book about the making of the movie, the funding of the movie, the almost not movie …. (inhale) and now the public…
-
It seems like a good day to repost this. I got caught shoplifting when I was 18 years old. I know, I know. REALLY late bloomer. The security guard’s cold hand clenched my left wrist as I attempted to leave the store without paying for the pair of jeans that hid in my bag. The crime took place in a Hudson’s…
-
What do you need God to shatter? What are we afraid to lose ? Will we ask Him, and allow Him to shatter that which we hold as obstacles to our true growth? It might hurt. It might mean we lose C O N T R O L of our moment. But it will mean that we will experience supernatural…
-
My life has had so many new chapters that the volumes would fill an entire mental hospital – physically. The paper itself. And the actual written content of the paper might fill up a mental hospital with the doctors trying to solve my insanity that’s revealed throughout the endless journals. The particular height of insanity in the year proceeding the…