Rural Thriving

I have days that I am extremely happy that I live a long way from a metropolitan area. I love that I only hear the sound of a car every so often. I love that there are more trees than houses. Really, I can only see one other house from my own. I love being able to go outside and see the stars. And if…

Carnival Mirrors

When you go to a carnival or a state fair, what is your first stop? After the newest crazy thing that has been deep fried, where do you go? To see Wilbur? To ride up in the Ferris Wheel? Or to go to the funhouse with all the crazy mirrors?

Scratch or Heal

It’s An Itch You Shouldn’t Scratch.

I think that my mother must have spent a third of her time the summers I was growing up telling me that I shouldn’t scratch the mosquito bites on my legs. I’m a mosquito magnet, and it is a testament to her instruction that I don’t have a…

In the Driver’s Seat

In my culture, earning your learners permit and drivers license is a rite of passage. Parents will rib their friends and say to watch out now that their kid is now on the road. Like most of my peers, I got my permit and license as soon as I could. I remember driving my sister and our friends…

Vulnerable Singing

I’ve been watching the SingOff these past two weeks on television. If you don’t know it, it is an elimination competition between a capella groups. A collection of purely voices lifted in song, producing a myriad of sounds and rhythms. Sometimes the group is so good that it gives me chills and…

All Saints Memories

I am inescapably like my grandmother Janet. There are things I say, ways I hold my body, methods through which I move…

Ignition

Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Ignition.

And we have lift-off!

The shuttle climbs higher and higher, at first seeming to creep up into the air, but then, moving faster and faster. Finally, even those who are states away can go…

New Things

Look! I’m doing a new thing;
now it sprouts up; don’t you recognize it?
I’m making a way in the desert,
paths in the wilderness. –Isaiah 43:19 CEB

Hollow

Carve me out, God. Create a new place for you to inhabit. Reform me, shape me as a river erodes the land, forming canyons of immense beauty. Sink your roots deep inside me, break my stubborn rock apart by gentle pressure. Hollow my cave until I whisper and whistle your presence with every move, until I resonate…