Accompanist // Practical Theologian // Voice Over Artist
Dear One, By the time you get this note you will be about half-way through the trauma program. You are missed, my dear friend! Something happened with my rescue puppy, Samwise, this morning that reminded me, again, of the effects of trauma. I used to put his food in a bowl under the utility sink in the… Continue reading Letter to a Traumatized Friend
Welcome Word: Speak life. Create all. Welcome Light: Shine glory. Illumine all. Welcome Flesh: Dwell full. Engrace all.
In the second week of Advent I have been pondering what it means to prepare a highway for Jesus. This Advent highway has a wonderful word picture: Every valley shall be lifted up,and every mountain and hill be made low;the uneven ground shall become level,and the rough places a plain (Isaiah 40:4). It is, first,… Continue reading Preparing for a King
When I was a child there was a lot more talk about the second coming of Jesus. I was too young to get caught up in the theological debates about when and how Jesus was coming back, only that he was coming. And while, even as an adult, I have never found much interest in… Continue reading Waiting for Jesus
I first discovered the “desert fathers” in Henri Nouwen’s little book, The Way of the Heart. His book was a such a gentle beginning to what I continue to find as a deeply Biblical, existentially honest look at the interior life. Nouwen did not speak, as the Desert Fathers did, about the “demons” in my soul. Rather, he spoke… Continue reading Just Under the Surface
I have often heard it said that if God could make himself heard through Balaam’s ass, he could make himself heard through anything. But this is getting ridiculous. My last two weeks were spent at Northern Seminary, walking students through nuances of the Chronicles of Narnia as they illustrate human sin and struggle and god-like grace. The picture… Continue reading A Bit Like Balaam’s Ass
No Glass Ceiling, an audio blog with Carla Waterman A spiritual desert affords the undistracted time and space to recognize and confront temptation, whether from cultural messages, our own vulnerabilities, or in the enemy of our souls. But the desert provides another opportunity: it is a fiery place where our desires can be purified. Jesus… Continue reading No Glass Ceiling
When I was teaching in Thailand, we called them “Teak of Righteousness”–Oaks are not native to Thai soil. But this morning I found myself praying with a wry smile and said to the Lord, “If you are making me a Bonsai of righteousness, I will not fight you.” My life has been pruned back so… Continue reading A Bonsai of Righteousness
Last month I had tea with a young woman who was in the small group I describe in the chapter on “Wisdom” in Songs of Assent. As we talked she pulled out a tattered piece of paper, folded so many times it was falling apart. And she said, “Remember this? I was out of the… Continue reading A Few Threads of Wisdom
"If we would rise to life's worst storms, the formation will not begin in the gale, butin the small puddles that splash at our feet when no one is looking."(Songs of Assent, "Buoyancy,"167) When I was in graduate school my husband and I spent a glorious season exploring the pristine "finger lakes" that fill the… Continue reading High Storms
Carla Waterman 