Lime and Strawberries

National Geographic

This is me today: still clinging and climbing upward, but color has been restored.

Who do you believe you are?

Warning: Extra potent for those of us whose love language is words of affirmation. (Email subscribers click here for the link to the video above.)

Oh Happy Day

Thank you to everyone who took the time to recognize the anniversary of my birth. I value your thoughtfulness!

The pictures below capture a momentous accomplishment--this is the most joy I have managed to muster before 9am in perhaps two years. Many thanks to MJ for the kind idea and momentum, BW for final execution, and MC for capturing the moment.

Blog Update

Today for the first time I 

...bought a down parka 
...ate Sherpa CurryGoat (title presented here exactly as printed on the menu)
...used the less intimidating version of the Neti pot to give myself a sinus rinse
...updated the look of my blog!


So, what do you think? (About the new look, not the Sherpa food). Too dark, too much contrast, too full of myself? Or does it not really matter since you subscribe by email or RSS feed?

Last Weekend

Les Miserables at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza (Thursday night)

Curly-heads at B's going away party (Friday night)

Praying for B before her departure to Norway with YWAM

My siblings taking their usual self-portraits (Saturday)

Dear friends and family singing folk and Gospel songs at my birthday party (Saturday)

Selected "photo booth" pictures (Saturday at party)

Ninjas with fur?

Potential family Christmas picture?

And on Sunday we delivered my brother to college. Whoosh!

To Whom Shall We Go?

⁶⁶ After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. ⁶⁷ So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, ⁶⁹ and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” John Chapter 6

Often my mind and heart are overwhelmed with stories of global suffering. The evils inflicted on one man by another crumple my self-constructed explanations, and I am forced to return to the "foolishness of the Gospel." So many questions,  but His truth is the only thing I know that brings healing and wholeness into this shattered world. No matter how pouty and hurt and generally like a three-year-old I become with the Lord, sooner or later my heart reflects To whom shall I go? He's the best thing I have going for me.



Email subscribers click here for the song shared above.

Caring for the Widow

Every year I "donate" my birthday to bring awareness to a different nonprofit. On the verge of departing for a party celebrating both yours truly and the International Justice Mission, I discovered this video about their work in Uganda. Take two and a half minutes to join me in a modern day view of Isaiah 58.



(Email subscribers click here for the video above.)

Silent Servants

What is wealth? Is it choices? Opportunity? Material possessions? Services? By American standards, I am a middle-class citizen. However, by any measure I am one of the wealthiest people ever to have lived. Think about the experience of grocery shopping. Your horseless carriage brings you smoothly to the front of the establishment, where you pause to grab a basket suspended on wheels. Then the doors automatically open to let you into the temperature controlled environment, music softly playing in the background. You wander down aisles and aisles of choices with perishable food kept fresh by humming servants who never sleep. Having made your selections, your purchases are automatically tallied and bagged, and an employee politely offers to bring them to your carriage. My Lords and Ladies--King Solomon himself did not experience such daily ease!


Continually, I marvel that I am living in a time in history when silent servants are the norm. We have machines to wash our clothes, clean our dishes, dry our hair, create light, cool and heat our homes, transport us, play music, and entertain. We even have machines that turn on our other machines so that we not have to rise from our seats! Truly, we have embarrassingly more than enough. My question today is not whether or not we appreciate what we have, but whether or not we are good stewards of the exceptional riches God has given.




P. S. Public restrooms make me laugh; I don't have to lift a finger to flush a toilet, turn on water, or pull a towel, but engineers still refuse to design a stall that doesn't squish the user from the swing of an inward-opening door.

Leave to leave?

Okay, friends--I know it's traditional to announce in advance if one plans to take a leave of absence from narrating one's views online. My apologies. However, in my defense, may I state that I did not plan to take a leave of absence? Rather, a doctor's appointment here, a workout there, a night with friends at those fabulous, breath-taking venues we frequent--life intervened with my best intentions. Before I knew it, I had become one of those people that came home and watched a TV show (albeit online) to empty my mind from the events of the day. Horrors! An empty mind? My little gray cells revolted before they became revolting; I shut down and stowed my laptop for a week. (Granted, I stare at one eight hours a day for work, so my eyes have not been deprived of their usual strain.)

Yours truly is finally getting back in the swing of things over here after perhaps the busiest summer of my brief existence. This week also marks an epic musical performance, two bon voyages, and a Summer Spectacular. And with those tantalizing nouns, I depart!

Choose your caption:

A.) A Study in Gray

B.) The Black Stallion's Harem

C.) Ben Hur II: the Chariot Race After-Party

D.) Yet Another Reason We Should All Visit the French Coast