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She burst into my room, darted for the bed and held fast to my side. Then an explosion of tears scattered across her chocolate cheeks. Through the breath-robbing sobs she said, “They’re mean to me, mom, so mean to me!” She looked me in the eyes and shouted, “I hate third grade! They’re so mean in third grade!” And then came the soft spoken confession – for weeks a group of boys taunted her on the playground at recess calling…

This was the inaugural month for the #TransitLounge book club. Together, friends from Luxembourg, UK, Canada and all across the US read Inspiration & Incarnation by Peter Enns. We read, tweeted and then posted our reflections. I loved seeing tweets throughout the weeks, reminding me of our collaborative read and sparking my own thinking about the OT issues raised by Enns. Fellow readers provoked me, made me laugh and added their expertise to my reading. I also discovered some new…

I've opened this space to Transit Lounge reader, Mickey Grooters, so her response can be part of our conversation as her blog is currently under construction. So glad to have her crack open her heart here and share some discoveries, questions and hopes. *** Often I get caught in black/white dichotomies.  Which is better this restaurant or that?  Which book contains more truth – this one or that one?  Which person has acted more nobly in a given situation –…

He had me at incarnation. “…as Christ is both God and human, so is the Bible.” The incarnational analogy Peter Enns debuts in Inspiration & Incarnation captivated my imagination immediately. I’d never thought of the text in those terms, but the moment I read his words, the concept resonated with me. The Bible is both genuinely human and genuinely divine, embracing both humanity and divinity in ways that challenge us to see the text amid various cultures, languages and time…

Today my son asked me about his birth mother – again. Why couldn’t she keep him? When you adopt, you must be all kinds of strong, tender and honest. Best we can tell she abandoned him roadside, only days old, umbilical cord still in tact. She wanted him to be found, why else wrap him in her bright African block fabric skirt? I imagine her watching from the bush, waiting for someone to carry him to a better life. Another…

There’s a girl at the well. Any Jewish person would crack a knowing smile – because perched on the horizon is romance. Think of all the encounters at a well that resulted in betrothal – Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, Moses and Zipporah. Consider this an Old Testament meme. Around a well people meet up and marry. Wells were also an essential part of life in arid lands. People would journey to wells to water their livestock. Sojourners sought…

We do community development work in Burundi among the Batwa people. We run a community bank for those working at the very bottom, trying to get into the economy. We lead theological conversations among innovative African leaders. We’ve adopted two children, once orphaned due to AIDS and extreme poverty. So much of our life’s work bends toward practical justice. So you could imagine stories about doing justice through agriculture, human rights advocacy, economic engagement, reconciliation or adoption. And trust me,…

Here’s a taste of the conversation on Twitter over the past set of days… The diversity of Scripture and how God is revealed/acts should encourage our own individual diversity in the body. – Aaron@voluntaryaaron If ‘there is no superficial unity to the bible’ then we should examine if we/churches operate on level of superficial unity.  – Aaron@voluntaryaaron   The bible doesn’t need our protection, doesn’t need to be proven true by modern science. – Lindsay Tweedle@lindsaytweedle   Interesting – EVs…

A black and white photograph of Claude and I, eleven years younger, reminds me of the unfettered joy of our wedding day.  The image is iconic in our family, a picture of love. This is what love looks like to many of us – cheek to cheek grins, hands clasped together, embraces that linger and leave a perfumed presence on your sweater.  Love blushes with a pinkish hue or pulsates with streaks of bright red.  Love is warm as a…

Lent is upon us, dawning tomorrow morning like a slow sunrise. What will come to light for many is that now's the time to let go, step back, even relinquish. Now restraint leads us, as if from behind, to a new destination. The Lenten Season begins with Ash Wednesday. A smear of oil and ash across the forehead to remind us of fragility and yet resurrected possibility, too. It's a season for holding ambiguity and contradictions; less to be more,…