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“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.

A time to give birth, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.

A time to weep and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance.”  - Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, 4

At multiple points in my life now, I’ve crossed the border into another country.  Most of the time this has gone smoothly.  I’ve stood before the immigrations officer, been asked a few questions, and then got a stamp in my passport.  Sometimes they haven’t even given me the stamp.  Just waved me through.  

It’s been almost a year ago now that I got an alert on my phone: “This is an automatic reminder.  We are still missing your preaching for theWord for 03 Sept 2022, which is in about 3 days in New Zealand.”   Any of you out there who also preach for this international Dominican website have probably gotten one of these messages at some point in time.  Alas, I am probably someone who has gotten them more than others.  I can tend to run close to deadlines.  But this message left me befuddled.  Had I signed up to preach for September 3rd?  Clearly, I had.

Next week we’ll mark the feast of St. Lawrence (August 10).  This summer, more than most, I feel l’ve been echoing his most famous quote from the fire pit: “You can turn me over now.  I’m done on that side.”   Geez, it has been a hot couple of weeks. 

Ten years ago this summer I arrived in Flushing, MI for the first time.   I was driving down Interstate 69 when all of the sudden my GPS told me to turn left down a narrow country road.  

After some steamy weeks in Palm Beach and St. Louis, the Good Lord has seen fit to gift me with a couple of 70 degree days in San Francisco where I am remembering what it is like to go outside and not immediately want to run back inside.  Mercy!

Aack.  If you ever wondered what authors do minutes after finishing a book manuscript, you are looking at it.  After a year of spending ten months thinking about “Redeeming Power” (still a tentative title) during every minute I wasn’t doing something else, I just finally hit “send” to my wonderful editor Eileen and ran downstairs to tell my husband who simply said, “I don’t believe it.  You’ve said this before.” 

This week I’ve been in St.

My goal this month is to reach the corners of the country.  Last week found me with the wonderful people of the Garaventa Center at the University of Portland.  Karen Eifler is not only a marvelous educator and writer, but host.  I was able to meet with around 60 education leaders on the topic of Let’s Talk about Truth.  We discussed ide

I know.  I never send out newsletters on Saturday.  We are all trying to step away for our computers for the weekend, and trust me, I’m about to do that, too.  In fact, after an incredibly hectic last couple of months, I’m going to try to be offline for the whole coming Holy Week to do some retreat time for myself.  In preparation, I have done a good amount of reading in the last couple weeks on Caiaphas and the many ways of understanding his statement: “You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole na