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: sexual abuse
Winter
Every winter I hit that spot when it feels like winter will never leave. Here in Kansas we don't even have the beauty of glistening snow to brighten our days; except for rare snowfalls, the days are an endless succession of shades of brown. The trees are brown, the grass is brown, the street is …
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 …
Justice or Revenge?
This is the story of one of my friends. Due to the sensitive nature of this story, I am publishing it anonymously for her. The experience of sexual abuse and the church's failure to protect is sickeningly common. What are we doing to bring about redemptive change? While working for that change, are we motivated …
Church Rules and the Missing Piece
I did not think I was going to write another post on church rules, but as I read the comments and emails following my simple story, one piece of the whole subject kept peskily scratching at the door of my mind. My story left out important parts of the church rules discussion because I cannot …
Book review: If the Foundations Be Destroyed…What Can the Righteous Do?
Sunday I was feeling sick, so I stayed in bed and read or slept most of the day. I finished reading a fascinating book titled If the Foundations Be Destroyed...What Can the Righteous Do? by Joy F. Hart. The book is written in story form, and describes a string of families with children with attachment disorders and delayed …
Continue reading Book review: If the Foundations Be Destroyed…What Can the Righteous Do?
Baruch haShem
When I walked into the kitchen of our lovely cabin in Colorado, Keane greeted me with shiny eyes. “Baruch haShem!” he said. I almost did a double take. What did my two-year-old just say? Will grinned at me from his position at the coffee maker, and I knew he was the guilty one. Trust my …
A Question Without an Answer
When are you going to write about sexual abuse? they ask me. I don't know, I say. I know so little about abuse. I've lived such a sheltered, coddled life. Yes, I've had my share of pain, but life has been kind to me in that area. What would I say that would not be trivial, meaningless, …
arabah rejoice 