Are you aware that Jesus died for YOU? For a long time, that reality didn’t sink in for me, either. I remember sitting in a sharing at a teen camp once where the teacher delved into the medical side of the horrific physical agony Jesus endured before and during his time on the cross. If […]

While counseling a friend (we’ll call her Kaylee) through a struggle over deep discontentment with the lack of feedback on a project she’d put years of effort into, I felt the urge to ask a very specific question. “Kaylee, what would truly make you happy in this scenario?” I asked. “What do you want out […]

I am an extrovert, and proud of it! One of my favorite things to do is sit down with a person and get down to the details of life. I want to know their hopes, dreams, fears, and fancies, their favorite movies and songs, the smell of the candle they always burn on their kitchen […]

Growing up in Indiana all my life, there have been countless times where some outing or activity has required me to travel on “The Loop” – the local name for I-465, a massive 3-to-6-lane highway that encompasses the downtown Indianapolis area. By some madness (or because of on-ramps I suppose), the speed limit on this […]

One of the landmark attractions in the United States is the Library of Congress. Located in our nation’s capital, it sports the title of “the library with the most books in the world”—more than 36 million by some estimates. Imagine the undertaking it would be to read them all! If you could devote eight hours […]

While on a trip to visit a friend many years ago, I had my first encounter with driving through fog. It’s amazing how different the world feels when it’s wrapped in that damp gray shawl; nebulous mist creates the illusion of solitude on an otherwise-bustling stretch of road. It turns the trees to a cohort […]

It can be so hard to grapple with the fact that in our fallen, flawed state, we are still the representatives of the only man who ever walked out this messy, complicated life perfectly. For all of my shortcomings, I’m meant to be his disciple, a witness for him. Um—HOW?! There have been many times […]

When my husband first proposed, we weren’t in bad shape financially. We were both blessed to still live with our parents while working full time, so we’d managed to sock away a decent savings. Still, being barely in our 20’s and facing the prospect of living on our own for the first time, being solely […]

It can be so difficult to be vulnerable before God. Many different things get in the way of emotional and spiritual intimacy, including broken pasts, confusing presents, and uncertain futures. It also seems that one of the barriers that prevents us from coming to God in absolute surrender to His perfect will is the fear […]

In our current way of thinking, the term “radical” has adopted an unsavory note. It’s usually used to describe someone who’s gone off the religious deep end, or who’s pushing some kind of harmful or even anarchistic agenda. But in truth, something or someone is truly “radical” when it or they relates to or affects […]