My younger son is at the peak of the developmental phase of toddlerhood that looks like this: Take all the folded laundry out of the basket. Unspool all the toilet paper off of the roll. Dump out all of mom’s makeup and then shake/pour/smear out each individual product. Pour the Legos out onto the floor. … More Building is Hard * 10 Minute Devotional
There’s a great short story by Herman Melville about a notary with a rotten boss who suddenly decides he’s had enough. After years of drudgery, serving as a legal scribe without adequate compensation or respect, one day when Bartleby’s boss asks him to examine a paper, he hesitates. “Bartleby,” writes Melville, “in a singularly mild, … More Knowing No (Soul Space Thursdays)
We’re preaching through Romans at our church right now, and I’ll admit that it’s a challenge. I’m more a John sort of girl. I like an image to hang my hat on, a story to dive into. Romans is short on story and long on multisyllabic words. Unpacking Paul is like opening up a set … More Helpless Christianity * 10 Minute Devotional
When I lead the prayers of the people in church these days, they are long. There is a lot to mention. This week there will be more still. Some of the recent tragedies are halfway across the world. Others are a short drive away. Some make headlines. Others are privately mourned. Some involve hundreds. Others … More What to Do When There’s Not Much You Can Do * 10 Minute Devotional
At a zoo tour years ago, I stood outside an okapi’s enclosure with a zookeeper who told me this story: Okapis are sensitive creatures. They are shy and gentle animals, and they struggle particularly in situations where they are repeatedly exposed to loud noises. The Sydney zoo is fairly close to the Sydney Opera House. … More Turn Down the Noise * 10 Minute Devotional
We closed on a house at the end of August. It’s our first, and it’s the product of a ton of love and generosity from a lot of people. Buying real estate in southern California is no joke, and we couldn’t have done it on our own. The same week escrow closed, a dear friend … More Losing Home, Coming Home
I like to joke that most things in life can be explained by scenes from either The Office (the American version, of course) or The West Wing. Take this scene from The Office, for example, where Holly Flax tries to explain time theft to her officemates. That, to the company, taking extra time at the water cooler … More Don’t Give Away the Time (Soul Space Thursday)
An old Wheaton acquaintance of mine, Brett McCracken, created this great graphic. I came across it on Facebook last week and it stopped me in my tracks. You guys, yes. It seems so obvious – build everything on Scripture, learn from our local church and the great church tradition, spend time in nature, read books (actual, … More First Things First * 10 Minute Devotional
Our almost-5-year-old son is in a be-naughty-and-then-feel-terrible-about-it phase. He’s a really good kid almost always, but some days he gets this look in his eye (all parents know the one) and then he’ll disobey, and struggle to move on from the offense. “I’ll never be bad again, Mommy,” he told me a few days ago, … More He Loves Me, He Does * 10 Minute Devotional
Daryl and I did a crazy thing a couple of months ago. In a digitally-defined world, we subscribed to a newspaper. A real, honest-to-goodness, newsprint newspaper. You guys, it gets delivered to our house. I read it while I drink my coffee. If I run my fingers across its pages, they get smudged with ink. I know, right? We’re such … More Read the Fine Print (Soul Space Thursday)
Courtney Ellis 