For years, my biggest struggle with being single was the not-knowing. A bit of a control freak, I have struggled to allow this part of my life to remain a mystery. One day, I decided I would choose singleness for myself so I could stop wondering. That gave me a… Read More

Leviticus is one of those books I used to skim over as I read through the Bible. I didn’t understand the laws—many of them felt arbitrary and bizarre. But as I read Psalm 119 I was struck by how the psalmist spoke of delighting in, longing for, and loving God’s… Read More

To come of age—at least in our family—means earning the right to watch The Wizard of Oz. (Isn’t a certain degree of maturity required for facing those evil monkeys?) The film adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s novel is a classic story about the search for home. Dorothy and her dog… Read More

I am overwhelmed by the recent U.S. election and its aftermath. Whatever your views, I suspect the times feel destabilizing and disorienting. Loud voices dominate and some people fear to speak. We seem to be more defined by our divisions than what unites us. People have lost trust in our… Read More

My friends are railing about politics on Facebook again. I’m exhausted. My social media feeds brim with news of violence, incivility, and decidedly un-neighborly behavior with no end in sight. And that’s just in the United States. Does it feel the same for you? Take a deep breath with me. Read More

A week after my close friend unexpectedly passed away, I found myself sitting on the hard wood pews of my church. Los Angeles was suffering through a hot spell in early November. Steamy haze rose from the pavement when I walked across the parking lot, making the air smell of… Read More

The last place I heard Scripture quoted was in a laundromat. “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord,” said a middle-aged woman as she folded children’s clothes. In an animated conversation with another woman, she was complaining about her ex-husband, who apparently… Read More

Tensions run high in the world of Ben-Hur. Jerusalem is under Roman occupation. Jews live as political exiles in their own city. Soldiers march the streets, quickly resorting to violence in even minor altercations. Entertainment involves brutality and death. It is a culture ready to spill blood—only the strong survive… Read More

Nature has always been the primary way God grabs my attention and shows me he exists. When the heavens declare the glory of God on a sparkling starry night, in the vibrancy of a technicolor sunset or in the whistle of crazy winds before a harsh storm, I hear them. Read More