The other day, I put my car key fob in a sweatshirt pocket and washed it with the laundry. Fortunately, the fob still worked after I dried it out and put in a new battery. The next day, I went to the grocery store only to discover that I left my wallet at home. The...
I swear I had nothing to do with it ending this way. It just so happened that on the last Saturday of my August Birthday Month of Abundance, I completed a two-year rewatch of the 2004-2010 ABC series Lost. I joined up when I discovered The Storm Podcast was...
“We’re all storytellers.” The truth of the statement washed over my skin in tingly waves. I paused, drew a deep breath and continued our conversation about our recent Sparking Creativity Retreat. I had been incubating the idea for a retreat like this for years. Back...
I don’t remember much from sixth grade, but I have vivid memories of my teacher’s after-lunch reading ritual. The ritual was simple: We’d read our way through a book, a chapter at a time each day after lunch and recess. I’m terrible at remembering details, but somehow...
Blame it on being a Generation Xer. In the 80s, we were among the first to have cable TV. And, I, having grown up in Omaha, Nebraska — a test market because of its Midwest “normality” — got access to cable television, even MTV, earlier than some of the rest of...
For a front row seat to how I use media, meditation, and mindfulness to help clients find their next steps, sign up for my online retreat, which starts on July 13. Learn more here. Anyone who reads my social media feeds knows that I am a film and tv junkie. Long...
I became obsessed with the NBC tv show, The Good Place, last winter. Something like … 47 people had emphatically recommended it; so, I binged it to keep my sanity while riding my bike on its trainer in the depths of last winter. This network TV romp makes ethics,...
Anyone who has followed me on social media through the winter months know — I LOVE awards shows. Awards about television and film, particularly. I fell in love with them when I a young, budding high school thespian. I had to wrangle the remote control away from my...
Friends inundated my Facebook feed with news of Ariyana Smith’s protest at a Knox College basketball game on Nov. 29, 2014. Since then, news of the college’s reaction to her protest have made their way into my email inbox. You may not remember this particular early...
News of grand jury decisions not to indict the killers of Michael Brown and Eric Garner left me reeling in a way that few news stories have in years. I’m not a lawyer, nor do I have any special insight into what happened in those grand jury rooms in St. Louis and New...
This blog series, Family Ministry: Not Just for the Christian Right Anymore, explores how family-based faith formation ministry will help progressive Christian values take root first in homes and then throughout our communities and the world in order to spread justice...
Confession time: I never went to church camp. Unlike many, many of my Protestant sisters and brothers, (I was raised Roman Catholic.) I have no frame of reference for that quintessential summer experience that inspires as many conversions as it does hook-ups. When my...
I’ve never related to the style of middle children. Being born an oldest child, I prefer to direct and lead rather than hold hands and make peace. I’ve been known to roll my eyes at people who cajole and coddle that one person who threatens to leave a group when they...
Pure desperation sparked my fledgling attempts to use videoconferencing software for meetings and other gatherings. Scattered, over-programmed people just couldn’t find time to drive 1-2 hours to yet another meeting each month. Children’s school plays, band concerts...
Two words for my fellow Progressive Christians: Stop Hiding. I know you don’t want to be associated with door-knocking, salvation-sharing, “washed-in-the-blood” proselytizing. You don’t want to talk about what you believe in public or even with your family or church....