I keep thinking of Christmas carols this week. Maybe it’s the crisp edge on the air in the mornings as I nurse my coffee. Maybe it’s the Apple Chai candle I busted out this week. Maybe it’s that the pumpkin spice latte is back at Starbucks. But I think it’s because I’ve been praying for…
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Continuing our discussion from yesterday: How do I teach the child I am discipling about fasting? How do I include them in an age-appropriate way? The Purpose of Fasting John Wesley said of fasting “first, let it be done unto the Lord with our eye singly fixed on Him. Let our intention herein be this and…
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This week at Transformation City Church we have issued a church-wide emphasis on prayer and fasting. We’re focusing on surrender, of our church, of ourselves, our agendas, our goals, our dreams, our ministries… One family in the church approached me after service yesterday and asked for suggestions on ways to talk to their child about…
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It’s been 50 years since Dr. Martin Luther King dreamed a prophetic dream for this nation. 50 years since a vision of black men and white men living and working side by side rang out against the walls of the institutions that sought to divide. 50 years since we caught ear of the faint melodies…
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A few years back, after first moving to Milwaukee, I had the *ahem* honor of working a four month long stint in the retail industry. I worked at a well known, upscale, women’s clothing store in the mall. Image was everything for employees. The latest clothes. Perfect make up. Gorgeous hair. Sephora came and did…
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This weekend I was super, major, crazy blessed to be with a wonderful little segment of the Body in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the Christians for Biblical Equality conference. It was so humbling to be with so many intellectuals, pastors and practitioners of Biblical Equality and to learn from them. So, so blessed. Slightly overwhelmed. Look…
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“You’re a fat girl” I can still hear the words ringing in my ears. Reverberating in my chest. Slamming into my heart with wrecking-ball force. The inflection, tone, facial expression. It’s all still there. As fresh as if it just happened. But it was twenty years ago. I was five. And some punk kid on…
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I’ve been thinking a lot about our perceptions of beauty lately. Last week, Kristen Howerton over at Rage Against the Minivan shared about wearing makeup everyday. The next day, as Ben, Cadence and I were mooching the malls air conditioning during the biggest heat wave of the summer, we saw a line of women (and…
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I remember when I first relocated. My husband and I moved our college-educated, middle class white selves into the thick of an under-resourced African-American neighborhood in the most racially segregated city in the U.S. Because we wanted to help. I, specifically, wanted to fix it. Because that’s what I do, I fix things. Our first…
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Child (frustrated with my insistence that they not kick the walls): Do you OWN this church or something??? Me: this week, I do. Child (bewildered): Who owns it next week? I spent the week shuffling 75-some-odd children and 30-some-odd adults around our church building during Vacation Bible Club. It was awesome. It was exciting. It…
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