The first metaphor to challenge my theological views was one of brick walls and trampoline springs. I find myself, all these years later, still longing for springs on a Sunday morning. Churches usually don’t acknowledge different perspectives and interpretations (unless it’s to say how wrong they are), let alone teach them. When you discover…
Category
Spirituality
I’m Coping, Not Healing. (and maybe that’s ok.)
My journey from fundamentalism to freedom has been one of community to isolation, no matter what the church signs say. I’ve gone from being the poster child to a minority. And it’s hard. It’s scary and lonely. Often painful. 6 years of wrestling have mostly been ones of isolation and frustration, because I’m thinking…
It’s Sunday Morning – Time To Wake Up, God
My story is rooted in whispers, conversations behind closed doors, arguments, struggles, isolation, and above all, a certainty that there is only one right way to be a real Christian. My parents came of age in the Shepherding movement, which resulted in their arranged marriage. We stayed in that church until I was 10,…
Fasting….a Capitalistic Venture?
Embracing Lent with the Family
“Underwear!” “Pillows!” “Hotdogs!” “Butts!” giggle giggle giggle We were discussing Ash Wednesday and Lent and what the kids could sacrifice. I’ve only ‘done’ lent once or twice before, both times only nominally ‘successful’. So in preparing to talk to the kids about it, to try and figure out a way that this could be…
And I Thought I Knew the Bible
She sat on the very edge of the seat, making sure there was no air between her body and the chair. No hovering, no cheating. Two feet firmly planted on the faded linoleum in the church basement, ready to propel her up in a split second. The adult spoke. “For God hath-” Up she jumped….
A Vocation of Obedience (A Guest Post)
I’m so excited to have D.L. Mayfield sharing her story here today. She is another one of those people who impresses me with her commitment to live out what she believes. Her willingness to follow God where he calls makes me look more closely at my own life. I have held many things in…
Choose Life
In the documentary Half the Sky, a girl rides her bike to school down a long country road. It is lined with trees, but no neighbors. She’s acutely aware she could be kidnapped from this road and sold. She rides anyway. Her choice speaks life and her bravery speaks hope and possibility to the rest of us. Life is…
Living In Transit (A Guest Post)
This is a guest post from Kelley Nikondeha, one of the most fascinating people I’ve met. The way she reads the Bible and talks about it widens my viewpoint every time, and her bicultural life is one I can’t even imagine. I’m so excited that she’s here sharing her thoughts on how she lives her…
Serving Outside of Our Gifts (A Guest Post)
I’m so excited to have J. R. Goudeau posting here today. Thanks to the world of social media, she has become a friend and an inspiring teacher. The way she sacrifices her life for others has challenged me, and so I asked her to share some thoughts about how her life has become shaped in the way that…