“If I hear, ‘You have such a pretty face’ one more time, I am going to scream. Really. It won’t matter who said it and it won’t matter where I am. I am simply going to scream.” Jemma cradled her old school, low tech, corded landline phone in the crook between her shoulder and cheek….
Author Sharon Garlough Brown (MDiv, Princeton Theological Seminary) is a pastor, spiritual director and retreat leader who is passionate about shepherding others deep into the love of God. Her book Sensible Shoes was named one of television personality Kathie Lee Gifford’s “favorite things” in March 2013. She and her husband Jack have served congregations in…
I stood surrounded by stone on all sides, elbow to elbow with others inside the small stone room. The pit. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what it felt like to be in this dungeon alone, in complete darkness. I shuddered and opened them again. I didn’t want to experience what Jesus felt…
I stood in the middle of the store and felt a deep sense of satisfaction: that’s the one. That’s her Easter dress. Three generations of girls gathered that day at the American Girl® Place to celebrate a milestone birthday for my mom. It was a Saturday full of storytelling and laughter as we shared a…
The pilgrim psalm, a cry of pleading, Hail the Lamb, soon bleeding. Hosanna! Save us! Blessed is he who has come. On a virginal colt, to Jerusalem mounted, costly redemption, carefully counted. Palm branches flutter, royalty shown to a King who stepped away from his throne. Hosanna! Save us! Blessed is he who has come. The…
If the movies are to be believed, you’ll know who to marry at the moment you share that significant look and a shot of chemistry tells you—unquestioningly—that this is the one for you. You will look back and say “that was the moment I knew.” This conviction, of course, would be confirmed by a swell…
I’m venting, pounding my palms on the car steering wheel as I drive the 20 minutes to a Franciscan center where my church is hosting a day retreat. I’m resentful, mad at my husband, and mad at myself because I feel he talked me into something I didn’t want to do. This keeps happening. It’s…
From the corner of my eye I watch Jerry shuffle out of the Carpenter’s Lodge into the chill November darkness. From a pile of firewood near the kitchen door he carefully selects four or five logs. Some are split. Some are short but whole. His rough workman’s hands choose those short enough to fit into…
Do you ever have those days — weeks — years, when your spiritual blood runs cold, when your deer-panting thirst has seemingly dried up? Or when you’re parched, dying for a drink from God, but his springed-up well seems to be saturating other cracked hearts but not yours? Disclaimer: There’s no such thing as a simple…
I fell in love with Charleston the first time I set foot there, probably because it was so different from where I grew up and now live, the flat plains of the Midwest. I had never been to a place with such character, beauty, and history all wrapped into one quaint package, complete with horse-drawn…
On my first day of student teaching I met Jerome. I was training to work as a special education teacher and was assigned to a summer school class of fourth and fifth graders with autism and other cognitive impairments. It was a lively place. Jerome moved like a bouncing ball, limbering from one part of…
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen (Jude 24 KJV, emphasis mine) Now to Him Who is able…
I’ve always been drawn to hurting people. However, when I first began to reach out to those who are wounded, I was naïve. I believed that if I could introduce them to the truths of Christ, their problems would be solved. In some cases, that is exactly what happened, although it was an extremely slow…
White Pine, Red Cedar Evergreen decked in strands of web separated by wind ushering in winter. Once summer’s home to spider’s fare of fly and flea now flown and barren blown down, a single hair of hoarfrost catching crystals. Sparkle, twinkle single thread newly adorned in celebratory refracted rays of holy light.