blog.

The Wrong Door

By Megan Westra / July 3, 2013 /

  One of THOSE days does not even begin to cover it. The caboose weekend of one of the busiest months of my life was kicking itself off with a bang.  Fussy child. Rain. No spinach.  Coffee jitters. It seemed like everything I tried to clean, Cadence pulled out. Everything I tried to fix, broke.…

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Weekend Reading

By Megan Westra / June 29, 2013 /

The Fight for Black Men “‘There’s a very good chance that we’re actually locking up the only potential we’ve got to revitalize inner-city neighborhoods in America,’ Bryant told me. ‘Drug dealers, gang organizers—they’re all natural entrepreneurs. They get up early, they work late, they hustle—but they have misplaced values and terrible role models.’” Governor Signs…

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When I don't want what You offer me…

By Megan Westra / June 26, 2013 /

It’s been busy around here. Camps and curriculum writing. Conferences to attend. Worship to lead. A child to raise. Mice to kill. (really. and yes, gross.) and a freaking sermon to write and deliver. and at the end of it all a breath. It was pure gift at first.  Those first moments of respite melted…

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Bad Guys Too

By Megan Westra / April 29, 2013 /

We were approaching the twenty minute mark.  A show down of sorts.  His lanky third grade self twisted up in the corner, head buried in his folded forearms in a potent blend of anger and shame.  “Can we talk about what happened now?” I had been checking in every five minutes or so to see…

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If I am dust, no wonder it is all over my floor

By Megan Westra / April 17, 2013 /

It seems like there are always little bits of cheddar bunny or pieces of apple peel ground into the carpets in our house. Clean laundry erupts out of the basket (with the help of hurricane Cadence)…and is smooshed against the banana that was left in the corner of the kitchen floor. Shoes are kicked off…

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Brennan Manning, Bonnie, and How I'll Never Look at Jesus the Same Way

By Megan Westra / April 13, 2013 /

  I met Bonnie the summer after my junior year in college. Her leathery tanned skin woven with deep creases told the story of challenge and adversity. The world had not been easy for Bonnie. The ivory breaks in her sun-scorched face around her eyes and directly to the ear-side of her dimples spoke of…

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Reclaimed: the "Help Meet"

By Megan Westra / April 8, 2013 /

“And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”  – Genesis 2:18, KJV Help meet. My Bible – an English Standard Version – reads “a helper fit for him” but my King James roots still chime in my mind. You…

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A Reflection on Resurrection

By Megan Westra / April 3, 2013 /

They were looking for Him among the ranks. Violent. Powerful. Hungry for a bloody fight and glorious victory. A liberator. Messiah. Someone to overthrow the government Oppressive Corrupt Caesar certainly didn’t affirm traditional Jewish values.  Surely God would erect a political leader who would uphold such beliefs. They looked in the political sphere They looked…

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Weekend Reading

By Megan Westra / March 29, 2013 /

But At All Costs, Avoid One Thing “I would like you to ponder this quote by Thomas Merton. ‘Be anything you like. Be madmen, drunks, and bastards of every shaped and form. But at all costs avoid one thing: Success.’” On giving away door prizes, pony rides  and a gazillion eggs for Easter when the…

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a cheap remembrace.

By Megan Westra / March 27, 2013 /

it feels cheap sometimes…   flowers and pastel eggs new clothes and spit-shined shoes bright, smiling faces and human-sized bunny rabbits (creepy) large, roasted hams and perfectly pressed linens   have we missed it? in the name of celebrating, have we missed it?   the darkness the ugly the horror the nakedness and blood the…

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