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Cairns: A Sign of Faithfulness
If you’ve ever gone hiking with me, there’s a fair chance that you know about my deep love of cairns. You know, cairns, those cute little piles of rocks that are used to mark the trail? Cairns are used on trails all over the world to signal to the hiker, “Yes, continue this way. You are still on the right path.” I’ve had many moments while climbing the Rocky Mountains in Colorado where I wonder if I have wandered off the trail, then I see the distinctive pile of rocks and am filled with assurance and comfort. Other times, I’ve started down the wrong way, and a distant cairn will…
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Beautiful Legs? / Les Belles Jambes ?
Have you ever gotten such a bad sunburn that you are hesitant to go out in public? Last summer, one of my best friends came to visit me while I was living in France, and the day after she arrived, we went on an all-day beautiful hike through the French Alps. Unfortunately, I left not only with great pictures but a very distinct sunburn, particularly prominent on the backs of my calves with two angry red stripes (imagine Neapolitan ice cream with the strawberry ice cream unusually prevalent). During this time, Europe and France in particular was experiencing a heat wave of unprecedented proportions, so the day after the hike,…
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Tis the Season – An Advent Liturgy
Tis the Season for Wish Lists Children and adults alike wish for gifts under the tree and stores offer every incentive to fill these desires. Yet many wishes are unspoken and unfulfilled – desires that cannot be put in a box and unwrapped on Christmas morning. I have compiled my wish of wants and crave many things, yet my heart desires deeper things: healing, reconciliation, true connection, a place to settle and be known. May the world come to know that every wish and desire, both written and unspoken, is fulfilled in You, O Lord God. Tis the Season for Drinking deeply and Eating abundantly Recipes overflow the internet and…
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A Reflection on a Torn Labrum & The Process of Grief
It has been over a year since my shoulder surgery in Spring 2021 to repair a torn labrum, and I’ve spent the past couple months reflecting on that harrowing experience. To give some background, for many years, my right shoulder had been bothering me after a volleyball injury. The labrum is a thick piece of tissue deep in the shoulder joint that keeps the ball of the joint in place, and the tearing had led to continual discomfort, inability to do several activities and exercises, and the pain was even to the point that sometimes I would simply turn over in my sleep and wake up feeling like my shoulder…
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When I am weak…
Have you ever heard a king, president, prime minister, or any other leader of a nation say, “I am just so weak and feel incapable to rule?” Part of my daily routine is listening to portions of the Bible read aloud. The other day, as I was half-listening to 2 Samuel chapter 3, one verse pierced through like a clear voice: “And today, though I am anointed king, I am weak…” At the beginning of 2 Samuel, David is just becoming the king of the relatively new nation of Israel after much turmoil with the first king, Saul (such as Saul repeatedly attempting to hunt down and kill David). The chapter begins by explaining, “The war between the house of Saul…
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Tis the Season – An Advent Liturgy
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A New, Old Justice
“Black Lives Matter.” When was the last time in recent history that three words were simultaneously incredibly unifying as well as incredulously divisive? On the 57th anniversary of the iconic March on Washington, similar cries resound throughout our nation, bringing awareness to injustice in America and demanding reparations for African Americans. Over the past several months, since the murder of George Floyd at the end of May, I have watched, listened, observed, learned, and processed this movement in America. My heart has been broken over and over again as I listen to the stories of many Americans, both intimate friends and people who I may never meet, as they share the…
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Ilm versus Wisdom – A Ramadan Reflection
Ramadan Mubarak! The month of Ramadan always brings my Muslim friends around the world to my mind more readily, but this year is especially significant in that a global pandemic means that the communal aspect of Ramadan, which is so core to the experience, will be missing for many in the Muslim community. Breaking the daily fast with a meal, or iftar, is a celebration that my Muslim friends look forward to each year. I cannot imagine celebrating the major holidays in my culture, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, without gathering together with many friends and family members. Ramadan without a large, communal iftar is like Thanksgiving without the…
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Reflections on India… one year later
“It sounds like you didn’t like it there.” This was a new friend’s response after he asked me to explain what living in northern India had been like. Perhaps he concluded that because of my description of the sights and sounds and smells of living above a slum community… Or perhaps it was after I explained the struggle of adjusting to the poor air quality, unsanitary water, and vastly different cuisine… It also may have been his conclusion after I told him about the everyday event of witnessing men peeing on the side of the trash-strewn road while their eyes followed my every move… If you look at my life…
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If you give a Muslim a Bible…
Earlier this month, I made a new friend named Prema* who is an MBB, which stands for Muslim Background Believer, meaning someone who grew up in a Muslim family but now follows and puts her faith in Jesus Christ. She is the type of person who loves Jesus so much that her every word is filled with His truth and she cannot contain the fire within her soul to share how Jesus is moving in her life and in the lives of people around her. As Prema shared her testimony, so many parts of her story struck me in significant ways, but one section of her story in particular helped…
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Controversial: Christmas Music in May?
I may or may not be one of those people that listens to Christmas music year around. (Spoiler: I am one of those people.) My heart and mind are captivated continually with the beauty, humility, and miracle of the incarnation of Christ. Whenever I read through Philippians, I will stop at the hymn in chapter 2, which states: /[Jesus], being in very nature God/ did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage/ rather, he made himself nothing/ by taking the very nature of a servant/ being made in human likeness/ No matter what time of year it is, as I read that verse, my…
