Optimism: A Wonderful Paradox
There’s a kind of prayer that doesn’t require silence or structure. It doesn’t follow a guide or wait for the right moment. It just happens — while you’re driving, making coffee, walking the dog. It’s unfiltered, constant conversation. And somehow, in the middle of the ordinary, you realize you’re not alone. Your whole life becomes prayer — unpolished, unplanned and full of God.
Created for His Presence
We weren’t created for shallow moments or vague spiritual vibes. We were created to know the Presence of God — not as a concept, but as a person.
Jesus’ Family Was More Dysfunctional Than Yours
Matthew’s Gospel doesn’t shy away from Jesus’ messy family tree. His genealogy includes adulterers, outsiders and deeply flawed people — names like Tamar, Rahab, David and Bathsheba. In a world where ancestry was your résumé, Matthew highlights dysfunction on purpose. Why? To remind us that God works through broken families and broken people. If Jesus’ family was a mess, there’s hope for the rest of us too.
Endearments of Morning
I sit on my bed, thinking about light and how I can describe hope in words.
Another gift, how morning comes. The house still, birds chirping outside, swooping to drink and dunk their beaks in the water bowl. September air in northern California—crisp, with a hint of cold on my skin when I push out the windows.
The sun's light blankets one tree branch in the backyard, the other in shade from a taller tree’s branches overhead. Sunlight and shadow. Undulations of light in stillness. The light moves, and the earth rotates.