Aside

When Courage Means Picking Up a Guitar

Today, I picked up a guitar, and let my husband teach me four chords. It was a momentous occassion. You’ve got to understand. I have a HISTORY with guitars. Both of my parents play guitar. In the seventies, they had a folk rock band, and I would fall asleep (or not) to the sound of […]

Read full story · Comments { 10 }
Aside

Friday Favorites: 1/11/2013

This post blew me away, in the best possible way: “The Gay Community, and That One Time Jesus Called Me the N-Word.” “There is someone that I love even though I don’t approve of what he does. There is someone I accept though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me. There is someone I […]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }
Aside

“Faithful”: My One Word for 2013

I’ve never been a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. So I was thrilled to learn about the One Word movement last year. The idea? “Choose one word that sums up who you want to be or how you want to live. One word that you can focus on every day, all year long.” My […]

Read full story · Comments { 3 }
Aside

Kathy and John Harris: “There is Simply No Need for Hierarchy in Marriage if Each Partner Loves and Respects the Other.”

We’re kicking off the Equally Yoked series with Kathy Harris’s reflection on 25 years of shared life and ministry with her husband, John. There’s an amazing amount of wisdom here, and a heaping helping of Aussie common sense. Enjoy! My husband and I came from very different family backgrounds, but both entered our marriage with […]

Read full story · Comments { 19 }
Aside

Watch Your Mouth! My Commitment to Mercy, and New Comments Policy.

The internet can be a brutal place. Some days, the Christian blogosphere feels more like the Roman Colosseum than Athen’s Mars Hill, a gladiatorial circus where Christian Soldiers wield sharp words against their brothers and sisters in Christ, pitting the strength of their platforms to character assassination. I’m quite certain Satan (whose very name means […]

Read full story · Comments { 5 }
Aside

Win a Kindle, Win a Book, Be a Happy Reader!

I’m super-excited about the things coming up on this blog in 2013! To celebrate, I’ll be giving a Kindle away to one new email subscriber. To enter the drawing, sign up for email updates in the box in the upper right-hand corner of the blog. (Don’t forget to verify your subscription! Feedburner will send you […]

Read full story · Comments { 21 }
Aside

Equally Yoked: Stories of Mutual Marriages

What does it look like to live in a Christ-centered home committed to shared leadership and mutual submission, instead of gender hierarchies? I’m looking for guest posts on this topic, especially personal stories about how mutuality has played out (or not) in your relationships. Marriage is the focus, but I’d love some dating and engagement […]

Read full story · Comments { 22 }
Aside

Fight Back Against a Culture of Violence: Crank Up the Light!

Like most Americans, I spent Friday alternately weeping, hugging my children, and wanting to kick someone in the ribs. I have nothing to say about this tragedy right now. So I won’t. I do, however, want to say something about the “kick someone in the ribs” reflex. When tragedy strikes, we naturally want to find […]

Read full story · Comments { 5 }
Aside

Stopping Traffick in Buenos Aires: The Tireless Seeker of Our Souls

Today’s guest post is from Tim Fall. ​Maria de los Angeles “Marita” Veron disappeared ten years ago. Her mother hasn’t stopped looking for her since. Marita was 23 at the time, the mother of a 3 year old daughter. At first her disappearance was unexplained. Then a tip came in: she had been kidnapped and […]

Read full story · Comments { 6 }
Aside

Limping Along: Why We Can’t Let Half of Christ’s Body Atrophy

Today’s guest post is from the wonderful Judy Douglass. Kamari limped along, putting all his weight on the good leg, dragging the atrophied right leg painfully up the rocky hill. Most often he hardly noticed the weak leg—he had learned to do most of his activities without it. But on days when he needed to […]

Read full story · Comments { 4 }
Aside

Good Christian Fears: Is Fear Crippling Your Walk With Christ?

I’ve never considered myself a fearful person. But recently, I’ve been discovering just how much my deeply-buried fears and anxieties have influenced and continued to influence my life. These aren’t conscious thoughts, or even things that I initially recognized as fear. But as I reflected on the decisions I’ve made and the things I’ve written […]

Read full story · Comments { 13 }
Aside

Women, Theology, and the Evangelical Gender Ghetto

James W. McCarty III has written a great post about the absence of female voices in the theological blogosphere. (His title is pretty awesome, too: Stop, Collaborate and Listen :-D) His conclusions are applicable to just about every area of life and ministry: Listen to women. And listen in a way in which you can […]

Read full story · Comments { 14 }
Aside

Secret Ingredients for Super-Powered Chicken Soup

Between holiday merriment, the traditional Thanksgiving sickies (my family always seems to get sick around Thanksgiving), and end-of-semester busyness, blogging has taken a backseat lately. I thought I’d pop in to say hi, though, and share my “recipe” for super-powered chicken soup, in case anyone else could benefit from a batch. (And I use the […]

Read full story · Comments { 9 }
Aside

Are Old Testament Laws Obsolete? Kathy Keller, Rachel Held Evans, and the Kerfuffle Over “Biblical” Rules For Women.

“A Year of Biblical Womanhood” by Rachel Held Evans has been the talk of the town lately, drawing the attention of everyone from Christian bloggers to shows like USA Today and The View. While I have yet to read and review the book (I’ll do so when I have more time), the reviews have been […]

Read full story · Comments { 13 }
Aside

Have We Become Ministry Snobs?

Happy Friday everyone! I’ve got a post up at Ed Cyzewski’s fabulous “Women in Ministry” series today. It’s a tongue-in-cheek look at my adventures in achievement-seeking, and the ways we tend to undervalue people who “help.” What do you think? As small churches wane and people consolidate into larger, staff-driven churches, are volunteers overlooked and […]

Read full story · Comments { 1 }