This is a repost from last summer! For my early morning swimming//pool-walking fools! *** For mid-July, it was a cold morning. Gray clouds hovered over the pool and the summer breeze was brisk and chilly. And yet we gathered to swim. All shapes and sizes, ages and demographics. Some obviously athletic, others barely able to […]

It was Easter and I was tasked with creating a children's paraphrase of Luke's telling of the Last Supper. I read the original text so closely: Luke 22:1-20. Most of us adults who have ever set foot in a church know this story. It's the one where Jesus knows he is going to end up […]

Hello my little group of readers. I have missed you. I have not written for awhile and that makes me feel sad and a bit paralyzed. How do you start back up? What do you say? I have been doing well, but have had some big assignments on my plate that have taken up most […]

There are certain writers I read again and again. Their wisdom never grows old, it simply shifts in impact as I flow through the phases of my own life. One of the most revisited is the late Henri Nouwen, arguably one of the greatest spiritual writers of my lifetime. I re-read his beautiful book "Life […]

I have had some very honest conversations with a few dear friends recently. These conversations are game-changers. Not because there is any advice offered. No quick-fix suggestions. No "I used to struggle with the same thing, but then I found a perfect answer" nonsense. Nope. Just deep listening. Gentle curiosity. Simple questions asked only for […]

As I write this, I am sitting in a cool hotel in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan waiting for my friend, Ramerous, to finish coffee with a colleague. Ramerous and I flew to NYC together; a big leap from the middle of Iowa to the heart of Manhattan. Ramerous starts a coveted summer internship […]