My phone rang at 9:30 p.m. one Thursday evening. The caller was my boss, a senior director. “Mike, you have a new assignment," he said. "Beginning tomorrow morning, you are the new QA [quality assurance] lead for our next-generation product, with a staff of fourteen. The project is...
A few weeks ago, while I was attending Spirit West Coast with my family, singer-songwriter Danny Gokey provided some words of encouragement: “Even if you feel upset, it does not mean you have to get upset.” I looked over at my son and our eyes connected...
I recently celebrated the anniversary of my baptism. As I looked through the pages of my scrapbook, I found something I wrote and laughed--not because my writing was especially witty, but because of how naïve I was. I thought my faith was so strong and that I had fully submitted to...
This August marks our thirteen-year wedding anniversary. Since we’ve been married, we have lived in the Bay Area, Malawi, back to the Bay Area, Uruguay, Kansas, and now Fresno. The last few places we lived, we were only there for a short time before moving again. Suffice it to say...
A couple weeks ago, my son, Micah, celebrated the end of the school year with a group of school friends at the community pool. The sun above us emitted warm rays, while the trees surrounding the pool provided an ample amount of shade. I gathered the rambunctious kids for a...
With Father’s Day recently passing by, the story of my father’s immigration story has been on my mind. He is agnostic, but I can see the presence of God in his life, working in powerful ways for decades. My dad was born in Shanghai, China, the youngest of five with two older...
A long time ago, I had two friends, who I’ll call Jamil and Abby. Jamil identified as an atheist, while Abby often said she believed in God but would only identify as Christian if she had to choose a religion. One day, I tuned in on a conversation between the two of them at the...
I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. Some of my friends always knew they wanted to be teachers, doctors, or lawyers. But not me. One thing that I have always known, however, is that I want a family of my own. My longing to find a partner to build a life and face...
I am eternally indebted to my spiritual director this year, Amy the Amoeba. Amy showed up in my life about seven months ago, soon after Mr. H. Pylori, a gastritis-causing bacteria, finished his five-month mentorship. Let me say up front: I did not choose Amy. In fact, she hid from...
I had always hoped to teach someday, whether at a university, community center, online, or in some other format. I always figured it would happen sometime in the far, far future. One morning last fall, I was talking to my husband, Daniel, about future dreams. I named teaching as a far-off...