Encouraging one another, all the more
In the Spring of 2010, I walked into a small room in San Jacinto Hall, a dorm at Texas State University. The room felt vibrant and alive, with lots of smiles, laughs, hugs, and conversation. The room was diverse, from skin color to clothing style, but everyone loved deeply; you could just feel it. I […]
This year has been a season of longing – longing for normalcy and longing for a return of routines, activities, and hangouts. Some of these longings are simple and easy to persevere through – longing to stand in a crowd at your favorite band’s concert, longing to go to the grocery store without being armed […]
When I was in elementary school the Ku Klux Klan held a march through my hometown. I don’t know the exact route they took, but I know they passed the Bus Center where all the public busses met to exchange passengers and start their routes over again. I know because that is where I was […]
In the middle of a pandemic, when your every day to day is suddenly flipped on its head, it’s pretty easy to start contemplating life and its purpose – specifically your own. Who am I? What am I doing? Why am I here? If you are a believer, the answer is simple. Your mission is […]
In response to a friend’s recent question about for others, I shared something that I do not always remember myself: Part of being on mission means accepting the invitation to pray and intercede for others (1 Thessalonians 5:9, Ephesians 6:19). “And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so […]
A while back, my mom let me borrow her purple water bottle. I used it so much I started to forget it was hers to begin with. Sometimes I fail to remember that the “purple water bottles” God lets me borrow are His, too. During my first year in the counseling program at my seminary, […]
When you think of a city where God is actively moving and doing wondrous works, what do you think of? What do you hope for God to accomplish in your city? I have a hope and prayer for my city that looks like this: For God’s presence to be felt in the city like it […]
Between a pandemic and feeding a newborn a billion times a day, I’ve spent a significant amount of time on social media over the past several months. I pick up my phone, use my thumbprint to unlock it, and pull up Instagram or Facebook like a bad habit. By the time I’m done, my heart […]
I was born in 1990. This means a lot of things: I have The Sandlot and The Princess Bride memorized. I had crushes on Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Sully from Dr. Quinn. I side-stepped most of the boy-band craze by being born into a country music household, but I could sing you Garth Brooks’ whole […]
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:16 “Abide in Me,” Jesus says. The words “Abide with Me” to the tune of the hymn have been playing in […]