Being S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D: The Way to Success

With her blue cotton tights puddled at her ankles, giving the impression she had chosen them from my closet instead of her own, I just had to ask. ”Anabella, what’s wrong with your tights?” Sighing she grumbled, “Mariyana wore them and stretched them out!” Looking at...

June 14th, 2012 | Essays, Part of the Solution | Read More

Cultural Disobedience

And now the forces marshaled around the concept of the group have declared a war of extermination on that preciousness, the mind of man. By disparagement, by starvation, by repressions, forced direction, and the stunning hammerblows of conditioning, the free, roving mind is being pursued, roped, blunted,...

May 15th, 2012 | Essays, Part of the Solution | Read More

The Gospel Shell Game

Have you ever known anyone imprisoned by a cell of their own making? Perhaps we all do it to some degree, but some do it to the extent that their lives are an ever-shrinking, imploding world of self-absorption. Indignation can be addictive, and some seem to have been seduced by it entirely. I know...

April 22nd, 2012 | Becoming the Great Us, Meditations, Part of the Solution | Read More

There’s a Monster In Room 301: Part 2

[Author's Note: This post is the second in a two-part series called "There's a Monster in Room 301". The first post can be found by clicking here].” [Editors Note: The names of the students have been changed to protect their identities]. Before I continue, a little history about me. In the eight...

March 15th, 2012 | Blog, Essays, Family, Featured, Part of the Solution, Social Justice | Read More

Novocaine

Imagine you have a serious toothache, and so you go to the dentist to get it fixed. The dentist takes x-rays, pokes around on your teeth and tells you that you have a deep cavity. But instead of getting out his drills and the cement needed to perform a root canal, he just pulls out a syringe of novocaine...

March 13th, 2012 | Essays, Featured, Part of the Solution, Social Justice | Read More

No Girls Allowed in the Elephant Room

Last year Ben Arment blogged about the first, The Elephant Room a one day gathering of high profile and influential church leaders, who get together to discuss issues that they classify as “Elephants in the room” in the church. So I watched the clip of current and former pastors discussing...

October 18th, 2011 | Becoming the Great Us, Essays, Featured, Part of the Solution | Read More

Votetivism is not Activism

In 1988, I had been a Christian for a couple years, when I first really read Matthew 25, “..when I was hungry you fed me, when I was naked you clothed me…” and James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in...

August 11th, 2011 | Part of the Solution | Read More

Latrines

This is a bit self-serving, but I’m always excited to find opportunities to give to organizations or causes that give me the chance to see the fruit of my resources or efforts in a tangible way. I thought I would share with you a way that Burnsiders, should you feel so moved, can vastly impact...

July 13th, 2011 | Columns, Part of the Solution | Read More

Support MacFarland Middle School In Washington, DC

When Waiting For Superman came out in the fall of 2010, I was nervous as much as I was excited. While the movie sparked a long overdue conversation about the cracks and crevices of American K-12 education, I knew it was doing so by highlighting the very school district where I teach, DC Public Schools....

June 7th, 2011 | Columns, Featured, Part of the Solution, Social Justice | Read More

Preventing Homeless Pets

“Kim, I think I feel a lump,” Bjoern said as he felt our Rottweiler’s neck. It was a snowy January afternoon in Indiana, and we were cozily hunkered down in front of the fireplace. Cuddling with Brigitte, the dog, my husband had discovered the tumor that would steal her away from us that April,...

December 14th, 2009 | Featured, Part of the Solution | Read More

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