Life is hard, but there are two principles that help me survive it: There is always a slender, golden thread of hope, running through every trial and tribulation of my life. Every difficult situation I go through has the potential to make me a better person, who is better able to help/love others. This year, [...]

Today, I am both honored and thrilled to have a guest post from my dear friend, Cari Gesch. She’s my favorite photographer and hiking buddy. I hope you enjoy her thoughts and her photos as much as I do!  Recently, someone asked me a thought-provoking question: “Where is your happy place?” I responded, full of [...]

“God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before him.” – Psalm 18:20 MSG   I remember when the movie Jerry Maguire came out and all the girls went drooly-faced and weak-kneed over Tom Cruise saying to Renee Zellwegger, “You complete me.” The truth is that nobody completes us except God. We [...]

I was a child in the 80’s, when HIV and AIDS first became household words. I remember TV movies and afterschool specials designed to educate us. But mostly, I remember the emotions. The deep, horrible fear of this great unknown virus that, at that time, was a death sentence. And I remember feeling thankfulness that [...]

I find myself kind of at an odd place right now. For quite a while now, my days have been dictated by meeting the needs of others–from my boss and coworkers, to my family (my Dad & Ashley, during their sicknesses, especially), to my friends. Each day I would wake up and it was like, [...]

I have a love/hate relationship with the news. I inherited a strong sense of curiosity from my mother and so I often pore over any news I can get my hands on. I am also aware that I find myself sucked into it and when most of the news that I hear/see/read is disturbing, I [...]

When we moved to New Bern just before my sophomore year of high school, coming from a school of around 500 kids where I knew everybody, to a school of about 1600 kids where I knew nobody, I wasn’t under any illusion that I had the slightest hope of being popular. But I was more [...]

Keep back nothing. Nothing you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, [...]

One of the hardest lessons that I’m learning in my life right now is that just because people don’t love me doesn’t mean that I’m unlovable.   Let me clarify. I know that I am loved. My parents love me. My pastor loves me. I have lots of great friends who love me. Sarah Bee [...]

Lately, I’ve posted some heavy topics and so after discussing this with several blogger friends, I decided that I needed to be completely silly and light-hearted in a post. So, here we go with 10 Random Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Me (And May Wish You Didn’t Know Now): 10. I’m almost thirty-four years [...]