by Laura on February 6, 2012

My amazing writer-artist-friend Kelley Leigh has begun writing again. Her words are simple and powerful over at her new blog, Forming Sentences, and just recently she posted an inspirational video from a girl she knew several years back. The girl’s name is Katie, and the story of her life screams redemption in the midst of [...]
by Laura on February 2, 2012

It’s Thursday morning, and I wake up with my mind racing. The balls are spinning in the air, and it seems the faster I juggle, the more likely I am to drop one, or two, or seven for that matter. I have about twelve too many projects going on at once, no consistent childcare help, [...]
by Laura on January 26, 2012

If my spiritual life were a dashboard in a flight cockpit, I’m pretty sure the red lights screaming danger, crash-and-burn-imminent! would be angrily blinking. Because my faith has taken a beating this year, a battering. . . ********* But, here’s the thing I am {re}learning about this God I started following 25 years ago. He [...]
by Laura on January 21, 2012

Admittedly, I am a crappy pray-er. I have the attention span of a cocker-spaniel whose owners are having a dinnerparty, and the result of my distraction is that my prayer life is sporadic, hurried, and fuzzy, at best. Last week, though, I learned about a new tool to use in prayer that has really helped [...]
by Laura on January 12, 2012

I was talking to a Chinese neighbor the other day while his kids were playing with mine. My friend and I began asking him a little about his work in Thailand, and it turns out he trains Chinese nationals to go into countries of the Middle East– Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq. And then he told us [...]
by Laura on January 5, 2012

I watch the sunrise this morning, listen to the roosters wake up the world. The sky gradually grows more pink and less grey, like God has daylight on a dimmer switch and is patiently spinning the knob. My instant coffee, which I’ve actually grown not to hate, sits on the table stacked with books I’ve [...]
by Laura on December 16, 2011

I heard the other day about a Thai woman who loves Jesus but chooses not to call herself a Christian. Instead, she classifies herself a “Buddhist Christ-Follower.” She recognizes that the term Christian in this part of the world is thick with cultural and historical meanings from the West that she would rather not identify [...]
by Laura on December 11, 2011

I posted this vlog about struggling with guilt at Christmas last year for another site, but thought it worth a second look. Ya know, because it’s the holidays and all. . . **************** What is the biggest thing you struggle with during the holiday season, in general? During THIS holiday season, in particular? Go ahead, [...]
by Laura on December 7, 2011

We walk up to the bar, and we slap a hand down. “Give me your best,” we tell the bartender. And we wait, expectant and hopeful. And the bartender mixes– the perfect concoction, no two drinks the same. This amount of bitter, this measure of sweet. A shot of strong, several shots of weak. A [...]
by Laura on December 3, 2011

The recent discussion we had here about the brutal cycle of hope and disappointment had me nodding my head as the conversation developed about dreams and the eventual crash-and-burning of those very ideals. And this early morning light finds me watching the farmers begin the process of harvesting the rice. Over the big white wall that [...]
by Laura on November 19, 2011

Yeah, so neither Matt nor I have ink yet. But as I’ve worked with the generation right behind me (the 20-somethings), I’ve noticed a trend for tats which is much greater now than even in my own college days. It used to be that only the wonderfully-edgiest people sported some kind of celtic symbol on [...]