Peacekeeping vs. peacemaking: why the difference matters
The other week I posted an article, “The Church is Not God“, and it took every ounce of courage I had to make it public. Before I posted it, I sent it to three different friends: asking for their advice, if I could say it gentler, if I was respectful and kind in it. I […]
The Church is Not God
Another story came out this week about another pastor who had sexually abused a minor. The victim, a girl of 17, immediately came forward to Andy’s bosses, and she was asked, “so you’re telling me you participated?” She was told that she was responsible too and not to tell anyone. Afterward, Andy was asked to resign, he […]
2017: the (best) year in review.
I welcomed 2017 with my first New Year’s Eve kiss under fireworks, bundled up in a car with my love in Breckinridge, CO. It was way too cold and windy to watch the fireworks outside, so after a delicious dinner we sat in the car dreaming of the next year, the year we would be […]
How to respond to sexual harassment.
Two weeks ago I sat in a Starbucks working on my book, when an older man of about sixty with long, slightly balding grey hair sat down next to me and stared hard. It wasn’t a kind gaze, it was an aggressive stare as if he was entitled to look at me and my body as […]
The weary world rejoices: musings on Advent.
It’s December 1st, suddenly and slowly, December is upon us and with it bringing with it peppermint mochas, Christmas lights, Christmas trees, Christmas music, and just a general feeling of cheer. The season is always welcome to me, I talked Dustin into putting up our tree at the beginning of November because we would be in Iceland […]
“Me too” and why sexual assault matters to all of us.
Earlier this week there was a campaign trending: me too. It asked for women who had been sexually harassed or assaulted to write “me too” as a status. Slowly, Facebook feeds began to be covered in the words in hopes that people might get a sense of the magnitude of the problem. I think a […]
Things I used to believe: poverty.
For most of my life, whenever I saw a person who was homeless, I would cross the street, avoiding eye contact. I would never give money because I had been told that many of them were feigning homelessness and that any money I would give them would be immediately spent on booze or drugs. Others […]
To all the (christian) single ladies
When I finally got a boyfriend and then engaged after being single for eight years I had messages pour in all over the place. Married friends who I had not talked to in years congratulated me, single women let me know they were encouraged by my story, and even a few people I didn’t know […]
Most trafficked women in the US come from Foster Care. We can change that.
When we first met Jada*, she wouldn’t talk to us, much less acknowledge our presence. She firmly crossed her arms in front of her chest, her eyes glued to the wall behind us. She intimidated me, and I knew what she was thinking. Who were we to help her? We had never been bought and […]
The Great American Eclipse and its power to unite.
On Monday, August 21st people across the United States of America donned their eclipse glasses to watch something that hadn’t happened to this scope since 1918. Highways clogged with totality chasers, social media filled with pictures of it, and for the first time in a while, news stations reported on something that didn’t cause […]