By Mariah Secrest So brew the coffee strong, love Where bitter joins the sweet Where love and longing both collide And peace and clamor meet These words floated through my mind in the form of a song this morning as the sun slipped over the mountains. Today is the memorial service for the stillborn baby … Continue reading Thoughts On A Sad Day
By Karen Swank I remember the first day I met her. She was in junior high. I was subbing and she was a handful in my class. Acting up, acting out, and just generally making her presence known. I’d been at this long enough by then that kids like her were secretly my favorites. Some … Continue reading Today, I Will Love
By Tim Kurek There are few people I’ve met in my life that capture what it means to be a CHRISTian as much as Jim Palmer, and it’s my hope that you’ll go pick up both Divine Nobodies & Wide Open Spaces. Jim’s background includes pastoral ministry, inner-city service, and international human rights work. As … Continue reading Jim Palmer: Interview with A Divine Nobody
By Karen Swank “Hope is a dangerous thing, my friend.” – The Shawshank Redemption I lost my candidate before the primaries were done, before I even got a chance to vote for him. I had picked him out with great care and felt deep certainty about my choice. By the time it was my turn … Continue reading Hope: A Dangerous Thing
By Brian Bowen I met Willy almost a year ago. Willy has been homeless for some time now. Recently he came up and pulled me out of the group saying, “Hey Rev, come over here. I need to tell you something.” I walked off to the side of the crowd with Willy and he began … Continue reading Willy’s Light: Being harbingers of hope
By Caitlin Woodward “And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their hearts of stone and give them tender hearts (hearts of flesh) instead so they will obey my laws and regulations. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.” … Continue reading God’s Heartbeat: Awakening to a life of passion
By Dionne Kane Recently, I asked my pastor a question that stopped him in his tracks. It wasn’t the first time I’d done so, nor the second. It kind of makes me laugh when I do this because there is this thing Pastor does when he is trying to hide his own confusion. This hand-on-chin-nodding-head-thing … Continue reading A Second Serving: A provocative question
By Ruth Wilkinson It’s pouring rain-buckets. And its moving day. S. and her family are on their way. Everything is in boxes, the key has been arranged for. All there is to do now is actually go. I had to work today, but swung by to say good bye and see if I could lift … Continue reading Moving Day: Who I Want to Be
By Will Shelton After much pressure, I finally saw the film Facing The Giants. If you haven’t seen or heard of this movie, Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA created this thing in 2006, one of those “Christian movies” that actually made its way to theaters. Then it made its way to DVDs and youth … Continue reading The God We Need
By Erin Almand Tonight I finished reading a book that I started this afternoon. (It was really engaging, ok? I realize this makes me an ber-nerd. I happen to be a fast reader.) Anyways, its a Christian book series, which generally I am pretty picky about, because most of them tend to be very formulated … Continue reading Stop Running: A Lesson in Trust