New Testament Survey for Kids (An Accidental Conversation)

/
New Testament Survey for Kids (An Accidental Conversation)

He was flipping through the tiny blue New Testament he was given as a baby, wondering about the words in red. “The words are red when Jesus talks,” I explained, smiling as I remembered that was even a thing. What a wonderful thing!

What came next was an accidental New Testament survey, six-year-old style. (I thought I’d retell it to you because sometimes talking to a kid about the Bible makes you love the Bible more.)

Read More

Mothering on Mother's Day

/
Mothering on Mother's Day

Mother’s Day is a day shaped for sweet celebration—but it also exposes: who we’ve lost, who we long for, who we have never known. If you've ever spent a Mother’s Day service weeping or avoided it altogether, you know what I mean. (Precious brother or sister, if that's you, I hope this and this can serve you. May God bless you and keep you.)

And yet, even for the woman who is not currently experiencing any acute loss or longing, it can be an unexpectedly difficult day. This article is for that woman—the one whose circumstances seem ideal on paper. The one whose house and hands are full, who is hungry to be acknowledged and appreciated.

To this woman, I want to offer two pieces of counsel:

  1. Look out.

  2. Get dressed.

Read More

The Only Safe Want

/
The Only Safe Want

It was a series of “nos” and “not yets” that felt unbearable to his four-year-old sensibilities. Even though I wanted to change the answer (I love to say yes!), I couldn’t. I shouldn’t. He collapsed into my arms yet again, legitimately devastated over something I knew was small in my reality, but big in his.

“Buddy, you want that really bad, don’t you?” He nodded though tears, and I put my hand on his heaving chest. “It’s grabbing your heart really tight.” He knew the sensation I meant, that feeling when you want a thing so bad it’s like it’s wrapped your insides into a strong grip, and he sobbed for a bit.

So I told him what I know, the only thing I know sometimes:

Read More

Pepper Fetus

/
Pepper Fetus

Oh I know, I’ll write about my BABY. But you know, that’s my job now, this baby, and so at the end of the day, that’s the thing I talk about. And you need to know that I have had some WEIRD jobs, one of which required my attendance at a function so sketchy it necessitated that my then 17-year-old brother accompany me and pretend he was an architect named Tim, which is weird because now he’s an architect named Phil. And then I tried to quit that job twice but was ignored both times, so I kept going to work.

Read More