The other day, I was chatting with someone when it happened—that familiar tightening I hadn’t felt in a while. My fists were clenched. My shoulders were high. My mind felt foggy and overworked. And suddenly I recognized it. My body was telling me something it has told me before. The feeling was eerily similar to the mental exhaustion I carried during the height of COVID. Not the same circumstances, not the same level of isolation—but the same deep weariness that comes from wo

I’ve never been much for New Year’s resolutions. It’s not that I don’t believe in growth or intention—clearly I do—but the language of resolutions  has always felt a little too rigid for me. Too much pressure. Too much room for self-judgment when life inevitably gets messy. I tend to work better with hopes, intentions, and gentle goals that leave space for grace. That said, this year I am holding onto a very specific hope: I want to read more. The reality is that since 2020,

I got a phone call at one of my churches this week. “Are you the church with the 'all are welcome' sign out front?” the caller asked. “The one that says ‘All are welcome in this place’  with the rainbow?” I replied cheerfully. “Yes! That’s us!” 🌈 There was a pause. The kind of pause where your spirit quietly whispers, Here we go. “Does that mean… everyone?” “Yes,” I said. “Jesus is pretty clear that all are welcome into relationship with God.” Another pause. Longer this time

C & C at the Fall Showcase It’s a beautiful thing when you see someone—especially a kid—find that spark, that thing that lights them up from the inside out. But here’s the truth we don’t talk about enough: even when you find  your passion, it doesn’t always come easily. Sometimes you hit a wall. Sometimes you want to quit. And sometimes, that’s the exact moment you’re on the edge of a breakthrough. This past summer, my son was ready to hang up his drumsticks. We’ve always tri

Rev. Dr. Anna Howard Shaw Quote: "...hold fast to that which God had given you; let no power, no injustice, no obstacle, no scorn, no opposition, let nothing extinguish the flame... never take your truth down to the world's level." A colleague of mine, Jenny Smith , wrote a poem—a poem she didn’t want  to write. She said it felt too big, too heavy. And yet, she wrote it anyway. Because sometimes, silence is a luxury we can’t afford. Her poem, posted on her Facebook page , beg

A bright orange guitar pick with Gsus Saves on it. My office manager handed me this guitar pick earlier this week — bright orange, with the words “Gsus Saves” and a guitar chord chart printed right on it. I laughed out loud at first. It’s clever, right? A pun that strums right at the intersection of faith and music. But the longer I held it in my hand, the more I realized — there’s actually a little theology in this tiny triangle of plastic. On one side, there’s the Gsus chor

A Christmas Tree Farm in Silverton, OR I grew up believing my calling was to be a teacher. I was the kid who lined up her stuffed animals and gave spelling tests. (They were excellent students, by the way.) So when I switched course in college and said I was going into ministry instead, people who only nominally knew me were slightly puzzled. “Why not teaching?” they’d ask. I usually smile and say, “I am still teaching." Because honestly, I never stopped teaching. Most Sunday

The world feels so big and overwhelming right now. Some mornings I wake up and wonder what fresh headline will undo for the rest of the...

We know something about waiting in the church world. We’re quite good at it, actually.

Last year, I planted two  pumpkin plants. Two. That’s it. Somehow, those plants took it as their personal mission to make me the Pumpkin...

Because no matter our age or stage, the work of becoming is never finished. And thanks be to God for that.

...ministry takes more than a balanced budget—it takes bold imagination, a little holy restlessness, and a willingness to try things that might seem unusual, risky, or even a little wild.

I have to admit, I don’t watch many news programs. I get most of my updates from OPB radio while driving between church meetings, school...

A pile. Here’s something that might not show up in a tidy Instagram square or make it into a catchy blog title: one of the biggest...

A few weeks ago, my office manager Jill and I took a day trip to Oregon State University to attend a presentation by Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB).