“God doesn’t give you more than you can bear.” “There’s a reason for everything.” When I’m in the midst of a hard time, these trite sayings are not helpful. It’s no wonder that non-Christians can’t wrap their minds around the...
I met Johanna years ago on Mother’s Day at a coffee hour at the church I’d been attending for less than a month. When I joined them at their table, Johanna and her twin eight-year-old grandchildren, Andy and Randy, were enjoying bagels, jam, and fruit juice. While trying to...
I recently finished the Healing Path course for the second time, but I often find myself freezing up when people ask me what I got out of it. I have had few experiences as life changing, and yet the impact of this ministry often feels hard to put into words. This year, one of the more...
This year in particular, my extended family is being ravaged by an addiction to a certain drug. Drug addictions break families apart. The resulting conflicts, suspicion, avoidance, and bitterness take a deep toll. The drug I am talking about is the 24/7/365 cable news coverage of...
Usually when I write a post for Estuaries, I have a story in mind, complete with a beginning, middle, and end. Sometimes there’s even a nice bow wrapped around it. Today is not one of those days. In the emotional sense, you caught me on a bad hair day. But if I’m...
There’s a stark difference between knowing something intellectually and knowing something experimentally. Knowing the Golden Gate Bridge crosses the mouth of San Francisco Bay because you found it on Google Maps or you read about in a book is one thing; knowing it because...
Vulnerability. This word strikes fear in my heart. It makes me uncomfortable. It probably does the same for most of us. Merriam-Webster defines the word vulnerable as: capable of being physically or emotionally wounded, open to attack or damage. Image credit: Brian Abeling /...
“Christianity is a subjective, transformative event that upends, ruptures, and transforms human life. At this level, much like the blind man in John 9, we may find ourselves simply able to say, ‘One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’” &ndash...
I was catching up with my younger brother a few weeks ago. On this particular morning, I asked him if he was finding anything particularly difficult. He responded, “Patience.” Prompted by the Spirit, I replied, “The more we lack patience, the greater the indicator of...
My family has been responding to crisis for the past four months. In November, my husband Jesús and I rushed Sebastián, our four-month-old, to the emergency room because the radiologist was concerned that his chest x-ray showed either pneumonia or a collapsed lung...