A highlight of my week is Wednesday evenings, when about half a dozen of us ladies slip into a church basement and study the Bible together. We are an odd assortment, but we love each other. Sometimes we laugh over zany high school memories and other times we cry over present struggles. I'm the oldest …
Tag: God’s church
The gentleness of wisdom
"I feel like seventy-five percent of my relationships are stressful right now," I admitted to Will as I watched his skilled fingers smooth wood filler into the nail holes of the cabinet he was making for me.While Will's hands shaped the cabinet-wood, he listened to me in his gentle and wise way. He didn't try …
Small Town Church
As our gray Ford Expedition pulled onto the road this morning, we caught a glimpse of our neighbor's blue Expedition speeding down a side street. "He's racing us!" Will said, laughing, finding his own shortcuts to take. We hurled down a back alley only to lose the race by a few seconds. But we all …
Lord of harvest
Have you ever been in the middle of singing or listening to a song when you suddenly thought, "Wait! What in the world does this mean?" I remember that moment when sitting in church singing this song: "Lord of harvest, send forth reapers! Hear us, Lord, to Thee we cry; Send them now the sheaves …
God’s ways
A few weeks ago, Will and I drove our family to Kentucky to see my parents. I forgot just how good it felt to be home, where the smell of my mother's fresh whole wheat bread welcomed us and wrapped around us comfortingly. I walked through my mother's garden with her, enjoying her presence and …
Thoughts about deconstruction
Joshua Harris, the hugely successful author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, shook the evangelical world a few weeks ago when he announced he was deconstructing and leaving the Christian faith. Listening to the conversations regarding Harris (and others), I've realized that many people have misconceptions of what deconstruction actually is and how it fits into a …
Stop talking about “moral failure.”
Some years ago, I was sitting in my car waiting to pull out of an icy parking lot, when I witnessed a scene I never forgot. A business man dressed in suit and tie and carrying a briefcase was importantly striding down the parking lot. At the wrong moment, his polished shoe thwacked on a …
My struggle with cynicism
Others have nicer names for it, names such as "compassion fatigue" or "burn out" or "emotional exhaustion." I suppose all of those terms are accurate, but in myself I see it as plain, unvarnished cynicism. Sometimes the needs of the world close in on me until I cannot breathe, then I crash under the weight. …
Wandering in the Wilderness
I have always viewed a spiritual wilderness as a blessing in disguise; an intensely painful and lonely place, yes, but a good place.The wilderness is a place or season in our lives where God strips away what is precious to us so that we are able to hear Him. Many times in the Bible, God …
Submission—Weapon of Warfare or Tool of Orderliness and Stability? by Sharon Graber Carpenter
Have you ever contemplated walking into a battlefield carrying an umbrella? Would you feel safer carrying an umbrella or wearing body armor if you knew there was a formidable enemy wishing to destroy you? Why the ludicrous comparison of umbrellas and body armor? Both have specific purposes and can be used for physical protection. The …
arabah rejoice 