Red Letter Christians

This week I've been sharing devotions - and action steps - out of the Bread Narratives of Scripture. Here are all five reflections in one place! MONDAY: Matt. 6:11, our daily bread TUESDAY: Exodus 16:4, bread from heaven WEDNESDAY: Mark 6:41-43, And all ate and were full THURSDAY: Mark 8:14, One loaf on the boat FRIDAY: Mark 6:37, You give them something to eat!   Thanks to Red Letter Christians for inviting me to contribute to Wake Up! You can…

This week my friends at Red Letter Christians invited me to offer their Wake Up! morning devotions. These are designed to be quick reflections to start your day thinking and practicing the words of Scripture. I decided to share all five reflections on the theme of subversive strength, as demonstrated by the women in Exodus. These women engaged in the liberation enterprise, showing what it is to be #ExodusStrong. Pharaoh never saw the women as a threat to his empire…

This week my friends at Red Letter Christians invited me to offer their Wake Up! morning devotions. These are designed to be quick reflections to start your day thinking and practicing the words of Scripture. I decided to share all five reflections on the theme of Jubilee, an economic principle threaded through the Hebrew Bible and into the life and times of Jesus. Jubilee has infused our development efforts in Burundi for years and this is just the taste, just…

“Mama, I’ve been meaning to tell you something. I don’t believe in God anymore.” My eleven year old son told me with a matter of fact chirp how he is thinking differently about God these days as he hears more on the playground, in Sunday school and around town. “Tell me why you don’t believe in God anymore,” I asked. He rattled off a litany of things like how he has never seen God with his own two eyes or…

“What was her name?” my daughter asks. “Did anyone save a picture of her?” “Do you know where her house is so I can see where she lived?” Her questions come fast these days; always asked with great curiosity and sometimes intensity. A salvaged photograph would mean she could see what her birth mom looked like – do we share brown skin, did I get my long lashes from you, is there any resemblance between us? At night she burrows…

I sat in my study leafing through yellowed documents stiffened by time. I read the letter typed in courier font by Sister Bertrille telling my parents they’ve been approved for the placement of a child. I notice her clear, careful signature. In a subsequent letter she happily grants their request to adopt me saying, “This will be a truly wonderful event for you and your little one.” Again I study her tilted cursive, the seal on my holy writ. The…