For years I had kept hoping that intimacy with God would blossom as soon as I got everything done, got everyone settled, got my environment just right and my calendar cleared. I counted on it to come as a reward for how hard I had worked, or at least as the built in consequence of …
I recently ended up bumping shoulders with a recent Peace Corps volunteer who was so inspired by her time overseas that she was eagerly and diligently raising money to go back. She speaks a tribal dialect of sign language that many people don’t, so she is teaching and connecting the deaf community in a small …
My first response to Barbara Brown Taylor’s An Altar in this World was to want to implement and integrate each of the practices she described into my life. I had to take a breath and back away from this initial reaction because simply adding more things to one’s life was not her intention, but rather …
We hadn’t seen each other in a year, but as we hugged, it was like we were still roommates. It is those kinds of relationships that will last forever. I don’t mean they remain stagnant, but that they grow and change as the two individuals change. She used to be a biology major, I used …
It wasn’t our first time meeting, but there was something about the occasion that made it different. Maybe it was the reflection I had already done that day through the blur of Hebrew flashcards and snow window panes or maybe it was something she had read earlier, but it was different. “Are you wearing cowboy …
Words have the power to change lives and vision. For good or bad. For now or forever. Preachers, teachers, parents, siblings have the power of words. Words to change for good. Words to change for bad. Words to heal. Words to hurt. They’re just words, nothing more. A word is dead, when it’s said. No, …
I have been reading Barbara Brown Taylor’s An Altar in the World and she has a chapter about the spiritual practice of getting lost. I was confused at first and then so excited because I get lost all the time, which means I am super spiritual, right? No, that’s not what it means, but she explains …
Today, I am preparing for a ski retreat where I will be the proclaimer and I can’t help but wonder what it’s going to be like. I have so many questions going through my head: What do preachers wear at retreats? I know it’s more casual, but should I wear my ski gear? Are the …
I often wonder about the people that I meet on my runs. I wonder what their stories are. I wonder where they have been. Sometimes I even make up their stories: Her morning was filled with preparation. She had started at 10 and finally got in her car at 11:45 to make the short drive …
I’m sitting in class giving my professor the blank stare that I have seen so often as a teacher. It’s that stare that lets you know that your student doesn’t understand. For me, the stare is caused by the uncertainty of the explanation he is giving about a new language. Hebrew. I knew it was …
Why did I care so much about handwriting as a teacher? Read More »
