Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Love”
“Love is kind.” 1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is a funny thing. We tend to know it when we see it, but it’s also a bit like jello, tough to pin to the wall. Love means a lot of different things in our world, which is why it sometimes gets wrangled into unloving agendas. We can do selfish things, reckless things, and self-destructive things, all in the name of “love.” It’s not hard to …
On Friday Ike and I celebrated 5 years of marriage together! Woohoo! Around this time each year, I find myself reflecting on how our lives have changed, what the future holds, and what I’ve learned in between. I’m not sure I could distill all those lessons into one single blog post, but in celebration of the last 5 years I …
Just over a year ago on a sunny morning in March, Ike and I sat on a plane in Dallas as it taxied toward the runway. It was an ordinary day and an ordinary flight, or so we thought. Before the plane was able to take off, our ordinary flight became a terrifying ordeal when, out of nowhere, one of …
Not everyone knows this about me and Ike, but we met in a bar. At the time, I was working as a college minister and Ike was a seminarian. We were both there for a charity date auction, and Ike was being auctioned off. And no I did not bid on him. 🙂 After meeting that night, Ike spent the …
There’s a bumper sticker floating around–you may have seen it–that reads, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” There are a lot of days when that phrase really resonates with me, and today has been one of those days. Maybe “outraged” is a little strong. Maybe angry, discouraged, or frustrated are better words. But either way, today I woke …
Since Friday, Ike has been out of town serving at our church’s annual summer youth retreat. It has been a little lonely around here without him, but I have also enjoyed the time to myself. On this particular quiet morning, I am sitting in bed and nibbling on some breakfast as the little boy inside my belly begins to stir …
I really enjoy being nice to people. Initiating friendly small talk with my grocery store cashier or graciously showing patience to my over-worked waitress all bring me happiness. There’s something about sharing a laugh with a stranger or bringing a smile to a person’s face that is nearly exhilarating. I love it. I walk away with an extra skip in …
Well it’s 7am and I’m sitting in the San Francisco airport waiting to board a plane. My mind is brimming with all the insights and challenges from the past few days at the SBL Conference. God taught me a lot! One of the best sessions that I attended was on the topic of Womanist Theology. For those of you who …
One of the issues Ike and I have struggled with ever since we’ve been together is the question of cross-gender friendships. By “struggle” I don’t mean that we’ve wrestled with jealousy or inappropriate intimacy with someone of the opposite sex. Instead, we’ve struggled with how to articulate cross-gender friendship in a manner that is both wise, honoring to God, honoring …
When I was in seminary I had a professor who used to say, “People don’t get married for love, but for lust. Only later does marriage teach us what love is.” I don’t think we should push too hard on that idea–there are all sorts of exceptions to it–but I agree with the basic premise. The early stages of a …
