I was recently out walking, but not for exercise. I was traveling. My steps were carrying me down the Costa del Sol, beneath the bright sun for which it’s named, toward a place that’s home, but not home. Maybe I can explain. The place where I was headed used to be our home, and it still feels like home, but it’s someone else’s home now. I was just going back for a visit. So I was walking home, but not home—a place of sweet hospitality, both then and now. That matters because I know the path well. It was a path we had walked many, many times during our years there: right up the coast, looking out over the Mediterranean […]

She Has Done What She Could

This morning I discovered what I want for my epitaph. (No, I’m not dying. At least, not any faster than anyone else. I just think about these things.) I read it in this passage in Mark: While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave […]

Rejoicing in the Waiting

It’s 4:30 in the morning in the middle of Advent, and I am waiting. Over the past 48 hours, eight people have been vomiting in our home. As I sit in the stillness between sick bay and those who are now resting, I wonder. Will it hit me? Will I suffer, too? How long, O Lord? You have spared me thus far, but what is to come? It’s not the kind of waiting that’s typically associated with this season. Yet in the midst of it all, my heart is stirred. “Rejoice,” said the apostle. “Rejoice,” said the preacher. “Rejoice,” said a friend. “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” I hear restless stirrings, and I pause […]

If even one…

The other night I attended a webinar for writers. The question was posited: How big does your audience need to be to make your writing worthwhile? Anyone would be happy to be read by millions, but what about thousands? Hundreds? What about ten? A friend joked that it felt like Abraham bargaining with God over Sodom. I responded with “If even one…” (The voice in my head was overdramatic and funny.) But there was some pushback: Is one really enough? Who is that one person? Hold that thought. Last night we watched the last installment of Tim Keller’s Questioning Christianity livestream. The series has been looking at the existential side of Christianity and how it compares with secularism (and other […]

Slugs and Bugs – Sing the Bible Vol. 3

This week’s #favoritething is brand new, but we’ve been dying to tell you about it for months! Slugs and Bugs Sing the Bible Volume 3 was just released Friday. But thanks to Kickstarter, we’ve been listening since Christmas. 😀 We just can’t get enough of this music! (If you need no further introduction, here’s the link so you can get yourself a copy.) Here are a few reasons we LOVE this album: In keeping with the previous Slugs and Bugs albums, the music is delightful, fun, and REAL. (Sometimes I listen to it without my kids in the car. Just sayin’.)  The lyrics are word-for-word scripture. Carrots are crazy. Volume 3 is all about Jesus! Voices we love have shared in the joy-making of this […]