On Being An Artist (or: How to be a creative person in a prefab world)

What is an artist? Creative? Intuitive? Weird. Outside the box. What box? Outside of my own box. Raconteur? That sounds “rakish” but it really just means “storyteller.” We’re telling our stories and we must be arrogant enough to believe enough other people will relate to them for us to make a living at it. Freaks…

Neckties That Blind

Who decided that if I tie something tightly around my neck I will work more effectively? What the hell is that? It’s bad enough that we’re judged by what we look like, what we have, what we do, who we know and how hip we aren’t. All of those assessments are based on the shape…

Better Late

A little thing i wrote years ago, but, better late than never… Who needs coffee? Just wake up late enough so that if you catch one stop light red, you’ll get fired. It may take awhile of being late to work up to this point, but so much the better. I wake up by screaming…

What is a Progressive Christian?

In recent years there has been a rise of Conservative Evangelicalism which has to pass itself off as the legitimate and only form of true Christianity. Theirs is faith-centered in a personal relationship with Jesus, and following a conservative theological understanding of the Bible, as well as a politically conservative agenda. Their idea is to…

How to Get Saved

The message of the Gospel or “Good News” starts with “Bad News”.  It begins with a story of disobedience; God’s intended perfect creation got polluted by “sin”.  The word “sin” is derived from an archery term used to describe an arrow shot toward its target, but falls short of its intended mark.  God had made…

What Would it Take to Have Another Pentecost In Our Day?

We have made it through Easter, encountered the risen Christ and are moving from there. The next two events are Ascension Thursday (or Ascension Sunday if the church doesn’t have Thursday services) and the ten days later is Pentecost which then leads to the beginning of Ordinary Times, which lasts to the beginning of Advent…

Why We March

Yesterday was a day to be inspired. Brandi, Brie, and I, along with buddies Lisa and Ashley joined approximately 1,500 of our closest friends to walk the streets of Rockford at the Second Annual Women’s March. The sun was warm, but the energy of the crowd sizzled. Chants were heard all along the route of…

A Time for Reflection

The holidays came. And then they went. With barely a notice on my part. After enjoying a pre-Christmas celebration with my cousins, my tribe as I call them, I fell ill to a horrible stomach bug, followed by skin boils, followed by a head and chest cold. It definitely reminded me of Job. But this…

My Truth

My wise friend told me last week that she is going to make a T shirt for me that says, “Be careful what you you say to me. I might blog about you.” This conversation took place after I ranted for a few minutes about thoughtless things people say to cancer patients. I had been…

A Letter to My Daughter

My dear Amber, Our history is rich with letter writing. A letter for going off to college. A letter when conflicts between us needed the reflection inherent in letter writing. Letter writing when I thought cancer might take me from you while you still needed a mother’s wisdom. And now, I am writing a letter…