Self-Care: Living Life in the Overflow
I am a “yes” person. When it comes to my job, my friends, or my family, I always want to say YES! Yes to helping people, yes to being with people and yes to loving someone better. I thrive saying yes, knowing that I’m saying yes to God’s work of loving people. But I easily […]
Little Acts of Kindness
I am constantly amazed at how far a small act of kindness can go. Two weeks ago, I watched a neighbor get wheeled out of her house on a stretcher. She was conscious – but pale and obviously in pain. It took a few days to find out what happened: she had an aneurysm (she […]
Love, War and a Comfy Green Couch
My first major purchase in Central Asia was a custom-made, green, suede-like sectional couch. It was beautiful, comfy…and expensive. I wrestled for months trying to decide if it was really worth the cost. I wanted my home to be inviting – a safe place. But was it really worth it? Shouldn’t I just make do […]
The Gift of Abandoned Dreams
I sat in church on a Sunday night in November 2011, mourning for an abandoned dream. After graduate school, I had left for Europe to spend the summer living and serving among people struggling to overcome drug addictions. When I left, I was completely ready to never come back. I had a heart for the […]
Not of, But Definitely Sent
When I was in college, I successfully buried myself in a “Christian bubble.” My interaction with those who didn’t know the Lord was kept at a minimum – only when required. I knew God had a heart for the lost, and I practiced evangelism on campus, but the vast majority of my time was spent […]
Open Nerve Evangelism
Andy, a 25-year-old man with few career aspirations, walked into the Pizza Hut where we worked together. He was white as a ghost. He had just found out that his girlfriend, who he was living with, was pregnant. He was a $6/hour shift-leader, without much hope of making more money anywhere else. What does a […]
“Yes, I Was Offended”
“He’s only hit me a few times.” She said almost too calmly. That comment stopped me mid-sip in my coffee. When Laura,* 16, first asked me to be her mentor, I thought we’d talk about friends and school, but instead, she revealed a family history of physical abuse, shouting matches and control. I was sickened […]
The Lost Art of Asking Questions
These days, I swallow hard as I realize I am closer to my 40s than my 20s, but, as I reflect on that formative decade, there is one key lesson that has served me well, and it is the art of asking questions. When I was entering my 20s, Facebook was still a thing in […]
“You are the Light”
A couple weeks ago, I went to hear a band at a small venue here in Colorado Springs with my friend Jackie. She and I talked for a bit with some new acquaintances who shared a table with us, but eventually, Jackie and I gravitated to a more personal conversation. With real vulnerability, she shared […]
Navigating the Chaos of Unsought Singleness
When I turned 30 and was still single, I got seriously nervous. I was secretly scared and overwhelmingly clueless about how to actually do a spouse-less life. How was I to navigate everything from finances to sexual desire, from big social events to questions of vocation, from the “love life” comments of well-intended others to […]
