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ICU on a Friday Night

We entered the lobby of Swedish Hospital carrying both a wavering uncertainty and a sober clarity about what this day would hold. Like Solomon in Ecclesiastes, our hearts were divided: is it a time for life or a time for death? Faith in the face of death asks us to hold both.

 

We knew what was waiting in room 316 in the ICU.  Wendy’s sister, Terri, was about to be released from the chains of overwhelming pain. We knew that her life support would soon be removed. What we didn’t know was what the hours ahead would feel like—how heaven and earth might draw close in this sacred space.

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Categoriesindividuals, Spiritual Conversation by

Writing Your Story for Healing and Transformation

One of the privileges of my life was to help create what The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology calls “The Allender Center for Trauma and Abuse.”  Their work has shown again and again how writing your story for healing can bring clarity, insight, and transformation for those who carry pain or untold stories.

 

It is a ministry that highlights the work of my colleague and predecessor, Dan Allender, a seminal thinker and student of trauma and abuse, who served as president of the school.  The focus includes one of the most transformative processes for those who deal with trauma (probably all of us in some way or another) called The Story Workshop.  I invite you to visit The Allender Center online to see what they offer.

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Following, Wandering, or Sitting?

Have you ever felt a question sink into your soul, stirring something long buried? Questions that awaken us to the deep journey of following Jesus home.

Some questions whisper through our lives like the wind, while others crash like waves against the shore, reshaping everything in their wake: “Will you marry me?” or “Will you take this job?” Perhaps a question like mine, “Have you ever considered that you are being called to pastoral ministry?” The words came from a pastor, but they echoed something more profound—something my immigrant grandmother had first spoken of me when I was just a child: “This one will be the pastor.” I had chosen another path, a Ph.D. in history, but this question brought me back to a calling I thought I had silenced.

Henri Nouwen asks us a question just as piercing: 

“Are you following Jesus? Not in name alone, not in habit or tradition, but in the depths of your being. Are you a follower?” [1]

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Saturday, We Made Bread

I grew up in a bread-making home. Five children all raised on thick, dark Limpa bread—rye flour, molasses, brown sugar, fennel seeds (my favorite), and little bags of Fleischman’s yeast. What Jesus called leaven makes the dough rise, giving it texture, flavor, and that beautiful dark bread I love to this day.

 

Small kitchens with five children running in and out to smell the dough and the baking bread. A familiar old family cloth covered the recipe as it was rising. My job was to take the large wooden spoon and stir 5 ½ pounds of flour to make yeasty dough in the largest green Tupperware bowl ever made.

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The Fire and the Flood

In two conversations this past week, a gripping response was present: fear. Two disasters grip us—fire and flood. Both are unrelenting forces, overwhelming when they come upon us, but also haunting metaphors for the inner storms that scorch and drown our souls. Fear, anxiety, grief, sorrow, loss—these are the floods that rise, the flames that burn within.

If I asked you, “What is the most repeated command in all of Scripture?” what would you answer? Love? Obey? Believe? No—the steady refrain of heaven is: Do not be afraid. Some even suggest there are 365 versions of this command—one for every day of the year. Read More

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When Scripture Reads Like Ink Instead of Fire

If you’re like me, there are times in your life when Scripture felt like it leapt from the page straight into my soul, prayers felt immediately heard, and worship stirred my heart, emotions, and mind. But let’s be honest. There are days when Scripture feels like ink instead of fire, when God feels silent and distant.

When Discouragement Creeps In

Usually, I hear or read words that discourage rather than comfort or console:

  • “If you don’t hear God’s voice, guess who isn’t listening?”
  • “If you don’t sense God’s touch this day, whose fault is that?”
  • “If God doesn’t seem to feel close, guess who moved?”

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Is this the new normal?

A Pastoral Reflection on Violence in Our Society
By Keith Anderson

 

Every time another shooting erupts—in schools, in sanctuaries, on neighborhood streets—we ask the same anguished question: “Is this the new normal?”

 

It happened again. Families are grieving loved ones whose lives were cut short. Children are left shaken, carrying fears that no child should carry. Parents drop their kids off at school, wondering if they will be safe, and too many of us have begun rehearsing worst-case scenarios when we enter public spaces. Some buy weapons. Others send children with bulletproof backpacks. Schools practice lockdown drills. Many quietly avoid large gatherings. We are learning to live with fear, to anticipate trauma, to prepare for violence.

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How to Read the Bible

How to Read the Bible Differently

Growing up, I became convinced I knew how to read the Bible: as content to ‘master.’ Its purpose seemed to be information, instruction, and data. I took an Old Testament class in college. Our exams primarily focused on recitation of the chronology of kings and prophets as if the primary purpose was to memorize a historical timeline.

 

Two people messed with that view and gave me a different understanding of the interaction between the Bible and faith: Jesus and Grandma McJunkin. Read More

CategoriesMentoring Matters, Spiritual Conversation by

Great questions for spiritual friendship

Mentors ask great questions.  We don’t always know the impact our questions will have until they are heard by the mentee.  Often, these great questions emerge from a pool of mentors, perhaps as starters or simply as something to introduce at the right moment.  

 

These questions can also serve you well as you journal—simply writing thoughts, prayers, experiences, questions, memories, in a carefully kept notebook for you to read again. Journaling is a spiritual practice that takes you deep into your inner landscape.  Many find it a valuable way to explore fears, dreams, aspirations, and convictions through regular writing.

 

We’d love for you to keep these questions for spiritual friendship close at hand. That’s why we’ve created a printable PDF of spiritual mentoring questions—a free resource that includes all 25 questions and the first practice prompt. Print it, tuck it into your journal, or bring it to your next mentoring conversation. Read More

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The Door Is Open: A Blueprint for Prayer from Psalm 5

Skeptical About ‘Steps’ to Prayer?

When I read or hear someone tell me there are five steps or three steps to prayer, spiritual formation, or knowing God, I become skeptical. I once took a 10-booklet course on steps to Christian maturity. I filled in all the blanks, read, and prayed, but two months later, I still wasn’t mature. Did I miss a step, or did it just not take? Was it the course—or was it the student?

Psalm 5: A Blueprint for Prayer

When I read Psalm 5 the other day, the image of a blueprint came to mind. I wrote in my journal: “Psalm 5 is a blueprint for prayer.” Or even better—what if it invites us to imagine what might be in the mind of an architect who draws up such a blueprint? It’s a visual representation of the architect’s craft, artistry, and imagination. Read More