An Invitation to Listen: Top Ten Conversation Deflectors by Austin Brown
Austin Channing Brown works at Calvin College (where my son and daughter-in-law attend!) as Resident Director and Multicultural Liaison. She has a passion for helping churches and organizations work toward racial reconciliation and economic justice. Austin was...
When a Disability Isn’t, at Amy Julia Becker’s Thin Places/Christianity Today
My nephew Cory just spent the week with us. For sixteen hours a day, he neither paused nor stopped. He played board games and ping pong, threw himself on the trampoline, chatted endlessly, and on the final day, learned how to dive. In between slipping into the pool...
An Invitation to Listen: Kyle Canty’s Elbow Room—Historic Roots of Oppression
I chose this post by theologian/pastor/husband/father Kyle Canty because he exposes some of the historic conflicts between white and blacks. This is not an American bashing article; it's a well rounded, balanced exploration of how we got here. Kyle is thoughtful and...
An Invitation to Listen: African American Writers Share What It’s Like to Live in America Today
I DID NOT PUT THE AD FOR ED DRUGS AT THE TOP OF MY HOME PAGE. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO GET RID OF IT. SORRY! During the past few months, I’ve been thinking a lot about white privilege. Truth is, I don’t actually feel like I have much. I'm a fifty-something writer, not...
When Your Son (or Daughter) Is Tempted by Pornography
Our son was recently on a regional athletic team. During lunch after one of the away games, parents shared stories about their sons’ showering habits, which apparently included waterproof cases for their handheld devices and excessively long stretches spent behind...
PSA: How to Never Lose Your Digital Photographs
Hardly a week goes past without someone posting a frantic message along the following lines: “AHH!! My hard drive just crashed and I lost all of my photographs.” More than heartbreaking, such loss is devastating. Make sure this does not happen to you! Read on to...
My Favorite Articles from 2014
Please note, I did not use the word TOP to describe these articles. They may not have received the most shares, views, or tweets but for various reasons, these are the pieces I am most pleased with from 2014. If you let me know which one is your favorite in the...
The Other Lean In—Bridging the Eight Inch Gap, at Start Marriage Right
During church several weeks ago, I sat behind a husband and wife who never looked at each other during the entire ninety minute service. They seemed to be straining to prevent their bodies from touching. While I certainly can’t claim to understand what was going on...
Friday Soul Food: My Ten Favorite (Unpublished) Photographs from 2014
This old railroad trestle is around the corner from where I grew up in Franklin, NJ. I've seen it hundreds of times but never photographed it until this fall. Shot with my Canon 7D and my 28-70 mm lens. Shot with my Canon 7D and 100 mm macro lens Stowe, VT. Shot with...
Gifted for Leadership: Partnering with God to Transform Our Minds
Six years ago we moved from the inner city to a three-acre plot with multiple fruit trees. I never realized how much work these trees require, naively assuming they produced their bountiful harvests year after year, sans intervention. I had much to learn. Fruit...