I just spent a lovely Valentine’s Day with my husband. It was our sixth Valentine’s Day together. We met in January of 2006 and were married that August. (Hey, when you’ve spent your entire adult life unmarried, you don’t waste time dating Mr. Wrong or letting Mr. Right get away.)...

Today our nation honors the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., a Christian activist who led the civil rights movement using nonviolent means.  He was assassinated for it. And though the civil rights movement continued, and though I believe that history is teleological, lately it doesn’t seem to be moving...

(Editor’s Note: I saw the Permission to Speak Freely Tour when it came through Salem, Oregon earlier this week. It was a profoundly moving experience – a reflection of the talent, intelligence, humor, wisdom, and vulnerability of the three women sharing the stage, as well the power of the...

It is a fearful thing to love what death can touch. A fearful thing to love, hope, dream: to be To be, and oh! to lose. A thing for fools, this, a holy thing, A holy thing to love. For your life has lived in me, Your laugh once lifted me, Your word was gift to me. To remember this brings painful joy. ‘Tis...

I can point to several authors who influenced my Christian faith: CS Lewis, NT Wright, Henri Nouwen and Walter Wangerin Jr., to name a few.  There are fewer authors that influenced me as a writer. But I can only think of two authors who influenced me as a writer of faith: Anne Lamott and Donald Miller;...

Greetings from the road.  I am traveling with Don Miller on his “Million Miles” tour.  We started off doing a dozen shows in a dozen days in a dozen cities (and 2 countries!).  It felt like we traveled a million miles in the first fortnight. I couldn’t be happier. Well except that my dear...

If dysfunctional is just a modern way to describe the effects of sin, then we all grew up in dysfunctional families. Chances are you didn’t realize it as a child – Mom just liked to cry, Dad was just a loner, and you were just the Fun Sibling who kept everyone in stitches. But then you got...