* not with ink

On Monday night, I will be driving down to Hamilton to celebrate the launch of a new book from Tyndale House Publishing: A Year of Living Prayerfully . I cannot tell you how excited I am to read this book. Or more accurately, to re-read this book. You see, a few years back, my friend Jared asked me for a favour - would I help him edit a book excerpt for a book that didn't yet exist? He was prepping material for a literary agent, and wanted a pair of eyes to help him send the best possible material. I, of course, said yes. I love reading, I love editing, and I love my friend Jay. The chapter he sent me was crazy. It was fun, it was lively, it was thought-provoking. I wasn't the only one who loved it - the literary agent signed him, and then they approached several major Christian publishing houses, and you already know how this ends: Tyndale signed him. So he asked me for another favour. Would I be a pair of eyes for the full manuscript? Yes. Of course, yes. Su...

For the majority of Christians around the world, it is now Lent - a season observed as we approach Easter. Though Lent has been a part of the Christian calendar for over a thousand years, it is a relatively new practice for me. So when I was asked to preach on Ash Wednesday, I was both excited and a bit nervous. On Ash Wednesday, many Christians are marked with ashes on their foreheads, and the words, "Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return," are spoken over them.    Encouraging, right?    Here's what I shared - drawing on the texts of Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 , Psalm 103:8-18 , Matthew 6:1-6,16-21 , and Psalm 51 . I went to university in my hometown, and though I lived on my own, I often borrowed my parents’ vehicle. On one particular occasion,  I borrowed it to renew my passport in a nearby town. My roommate went with me, and we had a great drive - until we got to the parking lot. It was tiny, and I was driving an 8 passenger Safari van. But I ...

The following is an email from my friend Alasdair, which I have cut and paste verbatim, and added a few comments of my own. This is a case of mi casa es su casa  or, more accurately, his invite is my invite - so please, join us!!!! Good morrow. The time of February is once again upon us, and for Beth and I, that means we exchange music. Most of you on this list were are part of it last year, but I've taken the liberty of adding a few more of my friends, and for those who don't know (or will be added later and want to know ) the basic story is thus: Beth and I are transatlantic friends (We WERE transatlantic friends, but Alasdair has now moved to Vancouver and we are cross-country friends. Also, I would like to share this fact about our friendship: apart from the week we first met, we have hung out in person precisely twice. TWICE! In eight years. I applaud our long-distance skillz.) As friends do, we share music. This started back in 2009 with C...

I didn't mean to disappear for almost a month. Honest. I thought that life might slow down a bit once the wedding was over, and in some ways it has. But in mostly every way, life is still life. And it keeps on happening. Friends have babies. Loved ones die. Your husband is grouchy one evening and says he doesn't feel well, shivering by the time you go to bed, and unable to get out of bed or speak in the morning. It's the flu. The actual flu. The lingering flu that takes something like 14 days to fully get out of your system. So you spend the weekend caring for him. And on Saturday evening you're not feeling so peachy yourself, so you cancel all plans and sleep something like 14 hours, and by Monday you're okay-ish, and grateful that the flu didn't hit you like it hit him, and you carry on with your week, and push through the sniffles and scratchy throat because you can. And you go to the spa because you have friends that are awesome like that, and you brea...

I imagine the name Christina Rossetti doesn't ring a bell to most of you. But you might know of her work; most well-known of her poems is the Christmas carol "In the Bleak Midwinter" (I'm a huge fan of Sarah McLachlan's version ). She also wrote a poem called " Goblin Market " and one entitled " Who Has Seen the Wind? " and many, many others. She is one of the most well-known female poets out of England, up there with Elizabeth Barrett Browning. And alongside her poetry, she wrote devotional and theological works. (What a delight to find a new kindred spirit!) Tonight, I am reading her rather obscure Letters and Spirit: Notes on the Commandments  (not even listed on Wikipedia !) as the focus of my final paper for last semester's class on Women Interpreters of the Bible. Yes, last semester... my prof suggested I take an extension, what with the wedding and all - and while I was reluctant, it did  make a whole lot of sense and relieve a...

In the fall, I preached for the first time at an actual church, with a hundred listeners, a microphone, and fancy robes.  Of course, the passages I was assigned to tackle (I had my choice of 3) were all about the end of the world as we know it. Not generally a popular topic, certainly a controversial one, and quite honestly, a rather stressful one for me on the occasion of my first sermon.  Two months later, I feel okay about it... I have a tiny bit of experience under my belt, a whole lot of encouragement from my community, and a renewed sense of my love for discussing the big ideas and questions of life.  So I wanted to share this sermon (and maybe some of the others I've given since) with you all.  If you are not a church person and you're still reading, first of all - I commend you. And secondly, I'd particularly love to hear your thoughts! I know there can be a lot of church-speak, and strange ideas, but I am keen to make the strangeness of the Ch...

There is nothing funnier and more heartwarming than listening to grown adults of all shapes and sizes and styles read their childhood or adolescent words. And there is nothing more terrifying than deciding to take part yourself. Dan Misener has been hosting Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids  events across the country since 2007. The podcast ran for a season on CBC last summer, and new podcast episodes are coming soon! One of them features yours truly... ** It was a total whim, signing up to read my awful adolescent poetry. And of course, when the day arrived, the event was sold out, and NONE of my friends had purchased tickets, I was NOT feeling very excited to bare my teenage soul to an audience of strangers. Thanks, Karen, for being my cheering squad & photographer! Thankfully, Twitter provided a ticket for the lovely K-Ho, and I met her in a dark space that slowly filled to capacity... As I listened to other readers, I was both reassured and further terri...