Promise. The promise of hope is something we have all been longing for this year.  Hope that next month will be different.  Hope that this virus will go away.  Hope that our efforts with social distancing and masks will be worth the effort.  Hope that a vaccine will help things get back to normal sooner […]

For many of us, that word describes not just a season in our lives, but a place of identity. This year, the year that none of us anticipated or likely would have imagined, has become a year that many have admitted their brokenness for the first time.  Lost jobs. Changed churches. Death and sickness. Election […]

If I had to describe what I have been feeling lately, it’s numb. I didn’t want to be numb.  It’s just kind of what happened. 2020 has been a year of so many things.  Things that I didn’t think I would see in my lifetime: Prince Harry leaving the throne, murder hornets, Disney World being […]

Going away on a retreat by myself was definitely not my idea.  In fact, had you offered it to me, I likely would have refused.  However, part of my seminary assignment for the semester was to take a seclusion retreat where I would be alone with the Lord.  Just Him and I.  No people.  No […]

Sitting inside the cramped and musty room, I was suddenly overcome with emotion. On the wall in front of me, a small plaque explained the significance of the space we were in. A single lamp seemed to hold the only promise of light in the darkened space. The smell of the confined and damp quarters […]

Yesterday while walking through Walmart, my oldest daughter pulled me aside to whisper something to me.  “Your dad is in the next aisle over.  He saw us but kept walking.” “Are you sure?” I asked her, hoping maybe she was wrong.   “It was him.  He has his COVID mask on, but I know it’s him.  He looked me […]

Being a mom of three girls, there are moments in my week that I recognize that I am having the same thoughts over and over. I think them, realize I am too busy in the moment to do anything about them, and then save them for the next week. Usually the thoughts come while I […]

Disney World. I couldn’t believe it. I was being asked to speak to and work with other Children’s Pastors at a conference in Disney World. For someone like me, this felt like the epitome of a “perk” at work. As a child, I had wanted to go my entire life. I remember watching the TV […]