RECENT POSTS

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and My Feelings
I’ve been reading Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzero, and wow is it helpful. I’ve known for a long time that I have trouble feeling

Celebrating Penny on World Down Syndrome Day
This year, we invited Penny to suggest how we should celebrate World Down Syndrome Day. She decided our day of celebrating Penny would include a

S4 E10 | Why Christians Should Welcome Immigrants with Briana Stensrud
How should Christians welcome immigrants and respond to the divisiveness surrounding immigration policies in the United States? Briana Stensrud, director of Women of Welcome, talks

Fasting from Busyness (Waiting for God)
I don’t like waiting. I don’t like waiting in line. I don’t like waiting for the water to boil in the tea kettle in the

Celebrating World Down Syndrome Day
As I type, our daughter Penny is downstairs on her phone. She might be commenting on an Instagram post or texting with a friend or

Lenten Reflection | Psalm 1
Do you ever get overwhelmed by the injustice in the world? Or feel uncomfortable by the word justice? Or feel paralyzed at the thought of

Hello and Welcome!
Hi friends and welcome. Some of you are new around here, so I wanted to pause and introduce myself. So first of all, I have

Our Unexpected Sunday School Teachers
For the past five years, I’ve been in charge of organizing the Sunday school teachers at our church. It’s always a little tricky to fill

S4 E9 | Choosing Courage in a World Divided with Natasha Sistrunk Robinson and Raymond Chang
How do we respond by choosing courage in order to bridge the divisions facing our country? Natasha Sistrunk Robinson, Raymond Chang, and Amy Julia Becker

Fasting From Podcasts (Listening to God)
I consume information all the time. If I’m driving, washing dishes, brushing my teeth, even walking from one room to another, I am almost always

Lenten Reflection | Psalm 23
What does Psalm 23 have to do with worry? I used to think I wasn’t a person who worried about much. And I didn’t worry

The Feast on Our Doorstep
I noticed two cardboard boxes on our front door stoop last week. They didn’t have a name or address on them. Just brown cardboard boxes.

What Is My Body Telling Me?
My back left tooth has been hurting for six weeks now. I passed it off as stress early on, but it got to a point

Hope: Spring Is Coming
Here in western Connecticut, we walk outside and still encounter persistent, crackly, frozen-into-ice snow on the ground. A park ranger informed me on Sunday that

S4 E8 | How Love Rescued Me From the Streets with Dorris Walker-Taylor
Is healing possible for women coming out of abuse, addiction, sex trafficking, and prostitution? Thistle Farms ambassador, Dorris Walker-Taylor, tells her story of being rescued

The Unexpected Gift of Fasting in Community
The Marco Polo app has been the best thing that happened to me in the midst of this pandemic. (If you don’t know about it,

Lenten Reflection | Psalm 139
Do some Bible verses sometimes feel to you like a Hallmark greeting card? Nice sentiment, but divorced from reality? This week our Lenten reflection is

AJB Recommends: Five Sweet Gifts That Delight
This week I stumbled across three essays, a podcast, and a video that each brought me deep delight and gratitude. I wanted to share these

Missing Out on Beautiful: Growing Up With a Child With Down Syndrome {Paperback}
December 30, 2005. That’s the day our daughter Penny was born. She was diagnosed with Down syndrome a few hours later. World Down Syndrome Day

What Marilee Taught Me About Prayer
“You can tell this story as long as you make Penny and William look bad.” Those were Marilee’s words of permission to explain what happened

S4 E7 | Are Christians Afraid to Talk About Racism? with Corey Widmer
Marxism is often brought up when talking about progressive views of justice, but what are the secular concepts that shape conservative views of justice? Are