Sweet Lord, as my friend Sherry lies in the ICU, with tubes and monitors and so many things that are unknown, I lean towards You. Towards what is known. I turn towards life. Towards the One who grants life and who isn’t fazed by its earthly limits. The One who sees past our finite measure...

Sometimes we run out of words. And sometimes we have too many of them. Sometimes there’s so much to ask that we don’t even know where to begin. In the times when I believed I’ve heard from God, the message has been short. The words succinct. The meanings deep and layered, complex. The nuances of...

Sometimes we run out of words. And sometimes we have too many of them. Sometimes there’s so much to ask that we don’t even know where to begin. In the times when I believed I’ve heard from God, the message has been short. The words succinct. The meanings deep and layered, complex. The nuances of...

I chose “one word” last year—just so I could say I’d done it. It turns out that really, the word chose me. And God proved faithful in my unfaithfulness. Still, though, I saw no reason to choose a word again this year. There’s only one small flaw to this plan. It’s not one word, but...

Join me at the Internet Café today as I explore why my default stance is “I wish there was something I could do to help—but since I can’t, I’ll pray.” And pray with me for what I should think instead.

So many well-meaning people make broad proclamations, thinking that if they repeat something enough, people will believe it. Maybe that works for some people. But—always a little rebellious at heart, and unwilling to be limited by rules I didn’t believe—I gave myself permission a long time ago to tackle this life of faith my own...

I’m reading all sorts of updates—heart-warming, faith-building accounts of how a single word guided someone for the whole year. Which reminds me. I failed miserably. I lost my focus on this word, forgot all about it except for this update in Sept. And yet. When God is behind something, it’s more about Him than about...

Emily Freeman is one of my favorite bloggers—if you don’t already know her, check out chattingatthesky.com. Every month, she does a “what I learned” post, and this week she’s posting her year-end roundup. I decided to join in the link-up. These are just a few of the things that I learned this last year, in...

Jesus wasn’t born in December, but likely in March. (Or, as my daughter Katie keeps telling me, Jesus was an Aries.) The wise men weren’t at the manger, but arrived years later. The manger may have been a cave, not a quaint little straw sanctuary in a drafty barn. We Christians have turned what was...

[also on Internet Café today] Silent night Lord, in these moments when the kids are asleep (and I should be), when I’ve put down my work and am lying here, finally still, help me to find You. Holy night Help me to remember why I’m doing all of these things. Why it matters. What it’s...