When Your Daughter Crochets
A Verse to Remember When Traveling
My friend sends me Psalm 119:54-55: “Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge. In the night I remember your name, O Lord.” I thought about the “theme of my song” being more like complaining about jet lag, poor sleep, body aches from sitting too long on flights: that’s my usual travel […]
Which One Was You?
I watch the college students race into the auditorium for their Christian conference, Bibles and notebooks in hand, and both eagerness and uncertainty on their faces. I look carefully as they all rush by me where I’m sitting in the back with all the older folks and the visiting professors. And I think: Which one […]
What You Miss When You’re Afraid
As I walked along the San Francisco Bay this morning, I thanked the Lord for helping me overcome the fear of travel, of speaking. of being anywhere away from home. Each time I journeyed out in faith, the fear shrank down. Now, fear feels like a small, familiar friend who’s there to remind me that […]
Ahead of the Storm
I depart for my San Francisco conference a day early to get ahead of the coming storm. At the advice of the airline, I change my flights immediately. While relaxing in the airport today after a safe trip out of Pennsylvania (no snow) and a safe arrival to Chicago (no snow), I realize that I […]
Stop Thinking and Talking and Pray
I remember to pray. God hears and answers.
Always Tidying
I talk to my daughters about the idea that, technically, we’re always tidying. I know that sounds bizarre, but if you think about it, it’s the only way to manage the chaos and to always have a clean environment. And it’s not hard. Always tidying simply means that after we use something, we put it […]
When Students Keep Asking Questions that You Clearly Answer in the Syllabus
It’s such a temptation to refuse to help students anymore who ask the same questions that you clearly answer on the syllabus. And even after you tell them to check the syllabus, they’ll keep taking shortcuts to ask you questions they don’t want to work for. It’s all in the syllabus. All of it. Everything […]
Living Like All Will Go Right For Us
This morning in my Hannah Whitall Smith devotional, God is Enough, I read the simple and most astonishing statement that because God is enough for us, “all must go right for us.” I linger on the phrase for a moment and consider how different a life becomes when lived in light of this amazing truth. […]