A few years ago, a popular television program called Monk featured a lead character consumed with perfectionism. He couldn’t prevent the murder of his wife, so he spent the rest of his life trying to control everything else. For a while, my nickname became “Mrs....
This was supposed to be such a productive week. My to-do list for spring break was filled with all the little projects I haven’t gotten to since Christmas break. That was the plan. Reality was a bit different. I haven’t been this sick in more than thirty years. Not a...
I deserve this. I earned it. It’s my right. A sense of entitlement. We see it in political debates about whether certain government benefits are a “gift” or have been earned. We see it in marriages and other relationships as individual people focus more on their...
God, how could you let that drunk driver kill my son? What about the baby born without arms and legs – where’s the good in that? There’s just too much suffering in the world – if God exists, why does He allow it? It’s all God’s fault—if there even is a God…or so an...
When you read a Bible verse, how do you decide which words to focus on? For example, which would you say are the important words in the following verses: “Blessed be the LORD, my rock… My lovingkindness and my fortress, My stronghold and my deliverer; My shield and He...
We see them in most nativity scenes: three men off to the side, dressed in opulent robes. They seem out of place in the tableau, rich men bearing luxurious gifts, coming to worship a baby belonging to poor parents. We don’t know much about them. We do know they had...
I trust the sun will rise tomorrow morning. I trust gravity will keep my feet anchored to the floor when I get out of bed. I trust the light will turn on when I flip the electric switch. There is a slight chance that one or all of those things may not happen. But...
Names can ignite treasured memories or they can bring to mind people and experiences we’d rather forget. When I hear the name Barbie, I think of the iconic doll from my childhood. Elizabeth reminds me of the Queen of England. Sandy reminds me of…tragedy. Two years ago...
My heart weeps for her, even though we’ve never met. Twenty-nine, a newlywed, and terminally ill with brain cancer. Who wouldn’t be moved by Brittany Maynard’s story? Last April, Maynard was given no more than six months to live due to stage four glioblastoma, a...
They kept coming. For every fifty I swatted, two hundred took their place. There was no way I could survive the onslaught…of spam. When I turned on my computer, my inbox was filled with 62,465 “undeliverable” error messages. I began deleting, but the incoming waves...
What Have You Done For Me Lately? I can be such a hypocrite. Have you ever been on the receiving end of a...
Trusting God When It Seems Impossible Earlier this month I recorded a guest appearance for a podcast that aired...
(This is the third in a series of blog posts inspired by The Chosen, a...