You would think that growing up in a “nomadic” pastor’s family that I would have learned early how to let go of people. My heart just doesn’t work that way. When I befriend someone, I fall in love with them. And it’s the “for keeps” kind of love. I love being able to love people [...]

It was more than 100 degrees in the room we were in. A room smaller than my living room. With no furniture save four or five cheap plastic chairs for our patients to sit in. The five of us were practically standing on top of each other. And with no electricity, no lights, and no [...]

I dance on the edge. Many of my churched friends tend to watch my life with fear and trepidation that one day, I will spin off into oblivion, while a lot of my unchurched friends wonder why I remain so inhibited. I’m an outsider. Several of my Christian friends see me spending time with non-Christians [...]

Last week, I wrote a blog post that I summed up this way: When we sow judgment, we reap judgment. What if we sowed love? This spawned a pretty cool discussion, but since that discussion happened elsewhere in social media, you might have missed it. And since I think it’s a pretty valid discussion, I [...]

About fifteen years ago, I lost my mind for about three months. The reason I say that is because for that three months, I made some of the poorest decisions I’ve ever made in my life. And one of those decisions was to get involved in a relationship with a young man who decided that [...]

Overwhelmed. Sometimes, it feels like I live my entire life in this state. There’s too much to do. Not enough time to do it. No appreciation for any of it. Not enough money to make it happen. Not enough sleep to make it bearable. And just when you think you’ve hit your breaking point, the [...]

I love it when I get to introduce the special people in my life to my blog readers. And the guest writer I’m introducing today is one of the most special people in my life, Ryan Marchese. I ask you to welcome him, hear what he has to say, and search your hearts to see [...]

Once upon a time, I went to one of the richest, most affluent churches in the city where I lived. It was filled with up-and-coming folks with nice, sharp clothes and straight, white teeth. They had manicured nails and name-brand shoes and shiny cars. I wasn’t any of those things. I was poor, pudgy, and [...]

“When I was a girl, when you graduated high school, you only had three choices. You could be a wife, a teacher, or a nurse.” My grandmother proudly displayed her nursing degree on the wall of her den.  As her brothers went to war and her other sisters married or went to teacher school, she [...]

It was my very first Sunday teaching children’s church at my parents’ rural church in Eastern North Carolina. My class of two preschoolers—Steven and Mariah—repeated after me solemnly and in a sing-song voice: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” [...]