I’m a sucker for a beautiful pulpit. Not the pulpits I grew up with in America, I’m talking about the stunning architectural pieces that adorn the cathedrals of Europe. The carved wooden imagery, dramatic staircases, and stunning canopies are captivating, but it’s also the knowledge that God’s Word has been spoken in these places for […]
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- September 24, 2019
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70s, blessing over your sermons, calling, finishing well, legacy, life sermons, mid-life, pulpits, self-discovery, values
We’ve officially launched the twins to university. The last year at home with graduating seniors ain’t no picnic: The ‘I’m ready to run my own life’ edginess. The university application deadlines and decision processes. The preparing, packing, and moving to college. The angst of roommate assignment and first week anxieties. The painful goodbyes. And in […]
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- September 16, 2019
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adolescence, adulting, children in transition, college, developmental delays, extended adolescence, gen Z, half-baked, helicopter parenting, launching young adults, maturing into adulthood, millennials, over-protection, parenting, parenting regrets, praying for children, praying for college professors, praying scriptures, teens, university, university age children
When my girls were babies, one of my dear friends had a teenager struggling with anorexia. As she went into treatment, they required family therapy and the therapist said he had never seen a patient so open with her parents throughout the process. Somehow they had created communication patterns that held during crisis. She weathered […]
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- April 10, 2019
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adolescence, criticism, hormonal changes in teens, listening, parenting, signature sins in teens, talking with your teen, teen bravado, teens, using humor with teens
Normally, I love the feeling of a clean slate at the start of the new year. But this year, as I did my reflections, I found myself feeling quite sad instead. As much as I’d like to close the door on 2018 and move on—- there are a number of things that I take with […]
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- January 15, 2019
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a time for everything, chronos, clean slate, deadlines, ecclesiastes 3, forcing God's timing, God's timing, indecision, kairos, new year reflections, new year resolutions, spiritual pacemaker, tuning into God's timing, waiting on God
Usually between Christmas and New Year’s, I immerse myself in the most riveting book. The main character is a bit of a mess– a cross between Anne of Green Gables and Anne Lamott. Some years she’s downright inspiring, and other years you wonder why she’s still playing dress up with her inner demons. But the […]
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- December 30, 2018
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end of year, examen over year, journal, new year reflections, new years eve, new years traditions, reflection, remember, reread journal, steady for new
It’s the season of waiting again! Waiting in December has gained a whole new meaning as we await our daughter flying back across the Atlantic to come home for Christmas. Everything has been marked by her arrival. While I was buying mangos– “These should be ripe by the time she gets home.” When Alex got […]
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- December 20, 2018
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advent, Anna, Christmas, christmas blessing, disappointment, Elizabeth, faith, faith trust, God's promises, Mary and Joseph, nativity story, second coming, Simeon, suicide, waiting, zechariah
Every once in a while you hear a sermon that grips your heart and suddenly the words are hanging mid-air in technicolor, and you KNOW these words of life are for you. These are the words that don’t just engage your mind, they engage your spirit– and something is activated deep inside you. In the […]
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- July 03, 2018
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2 Kings 13, battlefields, bow and arrow, Elisha, god is for me, god wars for us, graham cooke sermon, half day retreat, healing, jehoash, new dawn, new era, obedience, open window, prophetic word, strike the ground, words of instruction
I just finished one of the most intense 10 week stretches that I have had in years. We had our annual retreat with an unusually high number of people who had experienced life-altering traumas, twins in their super intense exams, back to back visitors, my oldest experiencing re-entry home with three of her college friends […]
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- June 27, 2018
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abide, body, chaos, emotional swings, fatigue, John 15, life stage, madeline l'engle, margins, ministry, perfectionism, sickness, soul, spirit, spiritual strength, staying centered, transition, weakness
My friend Dora got a picture for me in prayer this week for my birthday. “I see you on a long, straight, and plain road. Keep walking, you are going the right direction.” Yep, that image resonated immediately. Some years just hold a lot more of the faithfulness in the mundane than others, and this […]
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- April 24, 2018
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C.S. Lewis, dad's truck, glory in mess, heaven and earth, images, messy life, metaphors, picture prayers, prayer, sanctified imagination, transfiguration, visual prayers
This month I’ve talked with several different young adults struggling to figure out what to do with their lives– some facing the decision of what to do after high school (i.e. university? gap year? ministry year?) and some facing life after college (i.e. more schooling? get a real job? move home? travel?). We love to […]
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- April 06, 2018
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choices, closed doors, college, desires, differentiation, discernment, god of choice, god of life, longings, mid-life, open doors, option overload, pathways to life, university, values, vocational transition
