Never have I ever thought I would start paying attention to Macklemore. And yet, here we are. I first encountered Macklemore music a few years ago because of one particularly exuberant young man who was trying to educate me about Macklemore ahead of the annual Starry Starry Night dance for adults with disabilities. With the confidence of someone who was absolutely certain he knew more about music than I did, he was trying to convince this Broadway-, pop-, folk-listening pasto

It's that time of year again. Backpacks have been purchased. New shoes are being broken in. School supplies are disappearing in stores leaving shelves empty. Teachers are preparing classrooms, lesson plans, bulletin boards, and approximately 700 other things that nobody outside education fully understands. School starts today for our district! Wahoo! With all of this, a first for me: after years of serving churches that rented space to preschools — where every one of those sm