By Karen Swank Almost exactly a year ago, an aunt that I rarely see or talk to suddenly started leaving me phone messages and emails, saying she needed to talk to me about something important – a job opening that was tailor-made for me. What you have to know here is that I was not … Continue reading Conversations with God
By Karen Swank I am sitting on a park bench in Chicago with Lino, who I have brought to the “big city” to get a closer look at full time community life in missions at Jesus People USA with me. It’s an hour or so before we have to catch the train home, and we’ve … Continue reading Beggars and Thieves: Trying to love like Jesus
By Mariah Secrest I’d been ordering coffee from the same guy every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon all semester. I’m surprised the requisite question, “What’s your major?” hadn’t come up before, but until then all our conversations had been strictly caffeine-related. One day it came up. “Philosophy and religion? You’d always have something interesting to talk … Continue reading Unmarketable Enthusiasm: What do you want to be when you grow up?
By Karen Swank You wouldn’t love me if you really knew me. If I told who I really am and all I’ve done, you’d run the other way. If I shared my feelings with you, your lips would peel back in disgust and you’d scurry off to tell someone better. If I laid down this … Continue reading On Lies and Light: A twisted love story
By Karen Swank Before earth was earth or time was time, there was, is, and always will be You. In that space, You dreamed a dream, and it was me. You spoke, coloring the void, filling it with light and beauty. You formed earth, painting deserts here, pouring oceans there, drawing trees and decorating them … Continue reading This Space Not for Sale
By Karen Swank Oh when I look back now That summer seemed to last forever And if I had the choice Ya – I’d always wanna be there Those were the best days of my life Byran Adams, Summer of ’69 What’s the best age you’ve ever been? Getting older (at least, once you’ve surpassed … Continue reading On Getting Older
By Jeff Campbell Im mindful of Gods presence in my life tonight. A handful of seemingly independent phenomena have focused my attention on Him. Its kind of weird. Theres a level on which faith is so difficult. But I think its only difficult because its such an alien thing to us. Its not really hard … Continue reading God’s Presence and Do-It-Yourself Faith
By Karen Swank I started writing this earlier in the month, on my 42nd birthday… Heroes. Don’t we all love them? Our conversations, our dreams, our stories are colored with their exploits and wisdom. Though we each choose our heroes differently, most everyone is stirred by a well-told tale of how someone saved the day, … Continue reading The Truth About Heroes
By Karen Swank I got out my walking shoes yesterday…the ones I wore for pretty much every step of the year we spent prayer walking Mercer County. They’ve been in semi-retirement since I broke a lace, waiting under my bed for the next assignment. I stopped on the way home from church to get new … Continue reading Holy Moments on the Road of Life
By Chad Mast As I pulled off down the street thinking about my future, raising support and a multitude of other things, I felt led to go towards my old high school. I pulled through the traffic and turned on a street towards my old school when a homeless woman caught my attention in the … Continue reading Weeping with the Lord: Finding God’s heart in unlikely places