The musicians on stage were seated as they quietly played while the pastor was finishing his final thoughts for the day. All I could see were Mychal’s hands as he played the bass, so like his Dad’s Continue reading →

I am wearing my pajama’s again and my Mom’s slippers and I feel justifiably grateful that it is storming and cold outside so that I can stay in my pajamas for the rest of the day because I was going to anyways. I have been in them all weekend except church this morning and I have been in them every day after school.  When I am at school all I want to do is get through the day so I can go home and put on my pajama’s. I have been so grateful for the cold and rain it fits my mood and I can wrap up in my grey robe-wrap as I sit and watch TV or just sit. When I do get up I shuffle through the house in my Mom’s purple slippers, the last new pair she ever wore. Continue reading →

I was sitting in the 2^nd row after the service waiting until the men stacking chairs would get to me and then I would move. I was scrolling on my phone and I was waiting for my husband as I have done on any given Sunday in any number of places. He had preached that morning in this church we were starting to call home and while I was comfortable with that idea opening my heart to engaging people was still not something that felt safe.  I loved that Tim was loved and respected and that his preaching ministry was welcomed and wanted and that was good enough for me. I was basically minding my own business until a cute little woman sat down next to me and asked to talk to me. I was a bit surprised she approached me at all since I know exactly how intimidating I can look when I am scrolling on my phone daring anyone to approach me, so I was intrigued by what she had to say.  Lois Pittman is the women’s ministry director at our church (for you Bethanites she is Eunice Bruegman’s sister) and she started her conversation by describing a women’s event that occurred on a Saturday in the spring where women from the church were asked to speak instead of bringing in outside speakers. Continue reading →

I was leaving for my daily torture session at the gym and Tim was getting dressed to go to his first department meeting at his new school, I went to hug him before I left and I said Continue reading →

It was a romantic summer, after you renew your vows on the beach, how could it be anything but romantic? We hugged a lot…held hands a lot…went Continue reading →

The tears came unbidden and unstoppable; Tim stopped relaying the news because he realized that what had given him some relief was breaking my heart. We had been expecting a specific outcome to a financial situation and while Continue reading →

This month has been filled with images and actions that are truly hard to process; much like a turbulent love affair we have seen the best and worst in humanity. Romance has been defined Continue reading →

I found myself alone at table 1 and as I looked out at the charming scene before me I realized I felt something I had not felt in a very long time, contentment. A deep calm, a Continue reading →

My husband just read me an article about Rick Cole the Senior Pastor of Capital Christian Center.  As he was reading I was struck by several things that were deeply concerning to me and because so Continue reading →

I hate junk mail, I usually put it in the trash can as I take it out of the mailbox but I saw a picture of Huey Lewis and that caught my eye, I realized I was actually looking at a brochure from the Marin Civic Continue reading →

I stepped onto the street that faces the ocean, running shoes laced and ready to take me along the shore line. I stretch a bit to warm muscles that have not been used in this way for 5 months, but long for it and there is Advil waiting…I love advil Continue reading →

As American Christians we relish the double portion outcome of a Job like experience. We crave the justification that it brings to a life altering circumstance, it seems to clarify the How’s and Why’s of it all. We often love the beginning and the end of victorious testimonies and like to skip the middle part that includes the process and the time it takes to live in it, that part is often shortened or dismissed in the retelling of a collision-like experience in a life. Continue reading →

I needed contact paper for the kitchen shelves in the house we are care-taking and I was already on Hwy 50 so I decided to take the Zinfandel exit and pulled into the Target that I had shopped for years and if I am being truthful I wanted a White Chocolate Mocha (non-fat) and a Ginger Snap cookie from La Bou. Continue reading →

There are always multiple versions of a true story and who you are telling it to decides which version you will tell, especially when you are a Christian leader because you are always mindful of your responsibility to do no harm. It is like with your children, when you have to talk about difficult things you give age appropriate information, what they can handle in a way they can handle it. Continue reading →

WORDS, they come almost daily in phone calls, text messages, email and FB posts.
The frequency is in itself comforting but it is the “daily manna”
that they contain that elevates the mind and feeds the spirit. Continue reading →