From age seven on, I grew up in a Christian fundamentalist setting. Reflecting on this from my adult perspective, much of the messaging that I absorbed centered around matters of sexuality and reproduction: No sex before marriage. Women who have babies out of wedlock deserve consequences and condemnation. Abortion equals damnation. The rules seemed certain…
We’ve done more than a few home renovations. One involved our kitchen and jack hammering up our floor to move water pipes. The other involved our master bathroom and punching through drywall to again, move water pipes. My husband got our boys involved in this particular demo project, giving them thick gloves and telling them…
When I was in medical school, one of my classmates came to the mind-boggling realization that after four years of college and two years in medical school, he didn’t really like medicine after all. What he thought would be a life he would love turned out to be nothing but trouble. By that time, he…
I crawl underneath a 100-year-old house to inspect its sinking foundation. Built on post and pier a century ago, its footings are settling into the sand. Beneath the floorboards the foreman points out the rotting posts and the unstable footings. Already afraid, with my chin to the damp dirt and remains of vermin and creature…
I grew up in a central Indiana trailer park that smelled of antifreeze and the continuous waft of a neighbor’s cigarette. A half-charred trailer leaned at the park’s entrance, a monument to the short-lived relationship between fire and manufactured homes. All my family’s coming and going was marked by the collapsing shell of someone’s former…
“The reason the Father loves Me is that I lay down My life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from…
I’ve spent years chiseling away at the beautiful façade I’ve constructed around my faith. At times, the chisel has been traded for a sledgehammer: When I watched as a lone Buddhist monk was turned away from entering a megachurch because he wasn’t dressed appropriately When I heard Mother Teresa condemned to hell by a prominent…
My family spent many years in a small church. It wasn’t well recognized. The sermons were fine, but not great. The building served its purpose but was far from spectacular. But we knew (almost) everyone who walked in the doors and had many opportunities to grow through service, teaching, and leadership. Now, we attend a…