My friend the missionary

[caption id="attachment_1115" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Brittany, me, Bridgette, Lindsey, Jen, Jenna and Ann Marie"][/caption] Between my freshman and sophomore year I considered dropping out of college. I do not know how serious I ever was about it [a story for another post]. God did not design me to be a missionary [in the traditional meaning of the word] . But my fr

Corporate Grace

What does it mean to have grace in corporate America? The business world can be a tough place. To be cliche it is dog-eat-dog (overused because it is just too common). It is an easy lie, one I have found myself falling into. The lie you need to be tough. If you are not, people take advantage. You become a doormate. You don’t make it to the top if you are not tough. If you

Generation Gap

It is 8 on Wednesday night. There is screaming, laughing and stares of terror from some (ok, maybe just me..). My 6th grade small group is extreme. Those girls have a youthful energy about them. The kind of energy no amount of Starbucks or Red Bull can offer. And I, well, I sit and listen. I listen about homework. About boys and unfair parents. About being grounded. That boy who

The hands and feet

"And don't let anyone put you down because you're young. Teach believers with your life; by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith." -1 Timothy 4:12 [caption id="attachment_1030" align="aligncenter" width="583" caption="photos by grace bradley"][/caption] In the valley of the Appalachian Mountains there is a small town, Wheelwright, Kentucky. Wheelwright was a mining town. When the resources

Hope

Hope grows between cracks in the asphault In the downtown ghetto streets that contour The government housing intentions of my heart [...] There's a man down here somewhere between The Saturday cartooons and the dirty magazines He's raising the dead in the graveyards Where we've laid down our dreams His name is Hope -John Mark McMillian, Between the Cracks Hope came down, wa

awards and honors

Fly

"There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." -Douglas Adams, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy I never read the book, and I wasn't a huge fan of the movie but this is a great quote.

More than a Fingerprint

For the past few weeks Charge (the youth ministry I work with at Cross Point Community Church) has discussed identity. Zach, our youth pastor, has been challenging kids to look at who they are. At the risk of sounding too much like Alanis Morissette, here is who I see myself as. I'm a sinner, saved by a King. I am redeemed, by a Savior. I am a disciple, of a Radical Extreme Lover.

Redemption: A Wonder Hard to Fathom

For Christmas I received A Year With Aslan: Daily Reflections from The Chronicles of Narnia. Each day has an excerpt from one of the seven Chronicles of Narnia follower by reflection questions. January 1st was on the creation of Narnia (see my take on it here). The question at the end asked Have you every stumbled upon a scene of such wonder that it was hard to fathom? My first reactio

Just One: Narnia Part Two

"'It means,' said Aslan, "that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did now know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incarnation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no