These were the last words of Renée Good before an ICE agent shot her in the face. A few weeks later, Alex Pretti, a dedicated ICU nurse who was helping others at a protest, was also killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis. These deaths have cut deeply into families, communities, and our national conscience. […]
I’m Not Mad at You Read More »
Have you ever noticed how we hear something powerful and immediately think, Someone else really needs to hear this? Not us, of course. It’s always a brother-in-law. A cousin. A neighbor. That person on Facebook. The one who doesn’t get it. I’ve watched this play out for years in churches, classrooms, therapy offices, and living
Amen. Preach It, Brother. (Just Not to Me.) Read More »
My great-grandfather, William Washington Elmore, was a handsome man, except for his left eye, which had been blinded when he was young. (See the photo attached. He is the young man in the front row.) In 1908, at age twenty-six, he married my great-grandmother, Diana Vincent. She was only sixteen. They were country folk, living
William Elmore and Brownie Read More »
This morning we lost power. We still do not have power and are getting a little colder. We’ll be fine. That’s not the point of this story. Like many people do during storms, someone posted in a community group asking if others had lost electricity. Several folks chimed in: yes, they were out too. Others
When the Power Goes Out: Gratitude Without Superiority Read More »
I have been thinking all week about the confession of Philip Yancey. For decades, Yancey has been one of the clearest voices in evangelical Christianity, a writer who made grace feel believable again. His books didn’t just defend Christianity; they humanized it. He gave language to the weary believer, the bruised skeptic, the person who
When Christian Heroes Fall: Hypocrisy, Grace, and the Strange Work of Truth Read More »
Every November, I’m reminded of how strange it is that gratitude and resentment can live so close to each other. We gather to eat, laugh, and remember where we come from, and in the background, someone is already bracing for political landmines. I hear people say they’re skipping Thanksgiving this year because a family member
A Thanksgiving Worth Keeping Read More »
Last night I had another one of those dreams. You know the kind… not a nightmare, not exactly a message from the heavens, just that familiar cocktail of insecurity, self-doubt, and some half-finished problem my brain decides to work on while I’m sleeping. I woke up feeling the way I often do: a little exposed,
When Insecurity Speaks Read More »
There’s a saying that goes, “The best sermons are lived, not preached.” It means that actions speak louder than words, that integrity is found not in what we say, but in how we live. In my family, there’s no better example of this than my grandfather, Cortez Wesley. He never wrote a book or led
When I was twelve or thirteen, my parents came home from what felt like a spiritual revival for families. They’d just returned from one of Bill Gothard’s weeklong Basic Youth Conflicts seminars; those massive evangelical events that could fill entire stadiums in the 1970s and early 80s. They brought back binders, books, games, and a
We’ve become a culture of shortcuts. Quick dopamine hits instead of slow growth. Virtual affection instead of human touch. Excuses instead of effort. And while some substitutes come from heartbreak or loss and deserve compassion, others are chosen out of fear, laziness, or comfort. Let me start with empathy. Not everyone has access to what
Stop Accepting Substitutes Read More »