Imagine someone built a luxurious home on an upscale lake shore property and gave it to you outright. How would you respond? What would prevent you from enjoying such an extravagant gift? Recently our family stayed in a house like that. When we drove up oooo-ing and ahhh-ing, we had no idea this stately historic […]
The Law of the Thief
We all know why he came. Kill. Steal. Destroy. And yet somehow when it happens to us, when the thief ruptures our reality, we can’t help but feel surprised. There’s something about it that makes us catch our breath. Maybe it’s because we associate being children of God so strongly with being protected. If there’s […]
My Father’s Well
Come with me to the Negev desert to visit a relative of mine. Issac has just inherited all of his father’s wealth. He’s heir to a blessing that extends across continents and across generations. Still, it’s a tenuous inheritance, and all the promises hang by a thread. That thread is water. If there’s no water, […]
An Altar of Uncut Stone
This summer I lived in my friends’ garage. It was both better and more awkward than it probably sounds. (For an explanation of our living situation and other details, you can read my friend Becky’s account of our summer here). We met them twice before they invited us to move in. We had enough money […]
The Glory and the Launch
We’ve never met, but her song reverberates through my bones. I’d like to think we understand each other. She’s mentioned by name just twice in the Bible, but don’t let that fool you. Her legacy spans farther than those few paragraphs would lead you to believe. We know so little about her life, yet for […]
Who Advocates for You?
In college, I spent a school year studying the book of Job and adapting it for the stage with a group of friends. The words of this book became so much a part of us. We talked about our own struggles, the suffering we’d witnessed in our young lives, and questioned what God’s response really […]
His Mercies Aren’t Just New
God’s mercy and compassion toward us are good news. But sometimes I wonder if we’ve associated this idea of daily mercy with the daily portions of manna the Israelites gathered in the wilderness. In a sense the manna was also “new every morning,” but it was only good the day it was collected. After that, […]
I Thought I Had Nothing Left. Then I Found This:
A few days ago God gave me a picture of my life as a jar of fireflies with no cover. I held it against my chest while all the things we’d invested in blinked, faded, and blinked again, until they melted into the night. My children’s peaceful hearts, spiritual breakthroughs, houses, jobs, languages, health, friendships, […]
Mud in Your Eyes
Come sit next to me and let me confess something to you. But first, let me ask you something: Have you ever clung tightly to a biblical truth, and later realized you weren’t grasping the whole truth after all? Without ever meaning to, I misunderstood God’s word and used it against the person who is […]
They Didn’t Love Me Back
Here’s a taste of my story being served up at the Glorious Table this week: I learned the hard way that I fall in love too easily. For starters, I have a thing for epic poetry. And a long-standing crush on Italian (the language). So I may or may not have squealed when a copy […]