I stood up earlier and had the best stretch. I could feel my body loosening all the way to my toes. It felt soooo good. I’ve been trying to get more flexible lately. I've never been very bendy to start with, and I don't know that I will ever become super flexible, but I can feel a difference. My body keeps reminding me that if I don’t stretch and move, stiffness sets in. Loosening those tight muscles feels amazing, and it also helps protect me from injuries, giving me the freedom to move...
13 days ago • 2 min read
I have always loved the stories in the Bible. As I gather resources to plan my sermon calendar for 2026, I find myself drawn to the characters who don’t get marquee billing. They slip into the story almost unnoticed, sometimes not even named, but what they do changes everything. Consider Shiphrah and Puah, the Hebrew midwives in Exodus. They defied Pharaoh’s orders to kill all newborn males, and saved the lives of countless children. Their quiet courage carried the covenant forward and made...
20 days ago • 2 min read
This week I’ve been changing up my mornings. I’ve stopped reaching for my phone as soon as I wake up. Instead, I give myself at least an hour. In that time, I do a little morning yoga, shower, sip coffee, and spend some time in prayer and meditation. I’ve learned that mornings are my most productive time, and if I start by scrolling, I sabotage the very space I need most. My doctor once told me that if I wanted to change my health or the quality of my life, I would have to change something I...
27 days ago • 2 min read
Uh-oh. Why is she upset? I thought. Thinking back to our last conversation, I identified what must be the problem. I turned it over and over in my mind. Actually, I had the entire conversation again in my head, and then proceeded to have the next conversation I felt was necessary. Before I knew it, I had reacted to a text without any consideration of anything beyond the words on my phone and worked myself into an anxious mess. I stopped, took a breath, and called her instead. I relayed the...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
There’s a kind of work that doesn’t show itself right away. You can’t measure it moment by moment, but something is always stirring beneath the surface, like bread rising. I still marvel at the wonder of it. When I work with sourdough, I feed the starter and wait for it to double. It doesn’t look like much is happening, but the dough is quietly coming alive, changing texture, stretching upward.Then you mix in the bread ingredients and knead. After a bit of tending, it goes into a bowl to...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Today is August 1st. You know what that means ... It’s tomato season! Finally. Not the plastic, pale, out-of-season kind you bounce into your grocery cart in January. I’m talking about the good ones: sun-warmed, vine-ripened, full-bodied, grown-in-someone’s-backyard kind of tomatoes. The kind you wait for. The kind that remind you why the waiting was worth it. There’s something holy about a garden this time of year. Something that whispers what our souls already know but often forget: you...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Corn sweat. You know it's mad hot when we start talking about corn sweat and how it further impacts our misery. It's been a week. We’ve had a bathroom remodel on the calendar for months, and it finally began Monday. The crew tore everything out and are fighting with our formiddable, used-to-be-a-train-depot-and-built-to-hold-freight-and-not-have-a-level-plumb-or-stright-wall home and now they’re sloooowly starting to put things back together. We won’t have a fully functioning bathroom again...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
This past week, I was at our denomination’s General Assembly, a gathering of people from near and far, coming together in the name of shared faith, curiosity, and hope. We attended workshops, worshiped together, handled some business, and learned what’s new in our shared life as a church. More than anything, I was moved by the sacred conversations. The kind that happen in hallways and over coffee. The kind where someone says just the thing your spirit didn’t know it was longing to hear....
2 months ago • 1 min read
Those who don’t know me are often surprised to learn that I was a biologist. I hold a degree in it. I studied cellular biology, specifically genetics, and until some life events changed my course, I was on track for a PhD program. I still love it. When I get stuck writing a sermon, I find myself perusing scientific journals. Not just because I find them fascinating, but because they also tell a deeper story; a spiritual one. Every cell in our bodies contains the full code of who we are. Isn’t...
3 months ago • 3 min read