A poem about a woman who loved — In 1967, a woman loved for the first time. She loved a man who walked into her life on a warm spring day. In 1967, the woman attended a faraway school, trying in earnest to break free from the home life that constricted her, restricted her, allowed no room for…

John 4 and Psalm 119:25–32 I’m a few days behind posting each day’s reading due to a virus. But I’m picking back up now with one of my favorite stories, found in John 4: the story of the woman at the well. John 4 I’ve always loved the story of the woman…

John 3 and Psalm 119: 17–24 Last night, I got up at around 1:00 a.m., plagued by nightmares. I don’t remember them, but I remember how disturbing and dark they felt. For the first time in a while, I had to go into the living room and turn on the…

John 2 and Psalm 119:9–16 On day two, I am reading the second chapter of John and verses 9–16 of Psalm 119. You can read John 2 below: John 2 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to…www.esv.org John 2 The wedding at Cana has always fascinated me, especially growing up conservative Southern Baptist. I’ve heard this passage twisted up in various…

A 22-day reading invitation Tomorrow — November 1, 2022 — I am starting a 22-day reading schedule, and I’d like to invite you to join me. But first, I want to talk about the question in the title: What is the Bible? The answer we immediately give will depend on…

And why I know there really aren’t excuses (I chose this picture of something being crushed because it illustrates what anger does to a heart.) After my first child was born, I suffered from postpartum depression. I think. Honestly, I’ve never really been sure. It didn’t really begin until she…

I wrote a song — This song is inspired by the story of the woman at the well in John 4 and my recently released devotional, Run to the City: Abundant Living After the Well. Verse 1 Carrying her water in the heat of every day Making sure that no one was around Knowing that the gossip wouldn’t…

Idolatry in evangelical America — I saw this image on one of my Christian friend’s feeds. Thankfully, she was criticizing it. I had to look twice; I couldn’t believe it. Not only is this a badly done derivative of another work, but it also depicts Trump as Jesus and Lady Liberty as the one sinking…

The church’s caricature of villain and victim I recently read an original parable on social media. It was quite simple, really. One character was a victim and one was a villain. The victim felt loss and had the empathy of God. The villain threw away their life as God said…