Because we’ve gone to Israel five times during the last five years as part of my husband’s board responsibilities with The Caspari Center for Biblical and Jewish Studies, people ask us a lot of interesting questions about the region. Number one is “Isn’t it dangerous there?” On the heels of that question is often some variation…

If anyone but my friend Carole had handed me a book series like Penelope Wilcock’sThe Hawk and The Dove, I would have found a way to smile politely, tumble together a sloppy “thanks but no thanks; too busy” and pass them back to the giver as if I were playing Hot Potato.  Carole, a brilliant friend…

I’ve had some pretty terrible leaders. I’ve served under leaders who were burned out, on power trips, coddling a secret life of sin and corruption. I’ve had leaders who were living illustrations of The Peter Principle, and others who got their training in the Benito Mussolini School of Management. A good, long look in the…

When I was a young parent building a library of kiddie lit for my children, it dawned on me that I’d heard bits and pieces of the Good News long before I first read the Gospel of John during high school. I learned about faith and redemption from Grimm’s fairy tales like Little Briar Rose,…

I have yet to meet anyone who likes to wait. I usually stink at it, to tell you the truth. But within the rhythm of the Christian year, Advent is the block of time leading up to Christmas given over to waiting. The practice is as countercultural as it comes. December’s secular Festivus frenzy, with…

Even if you’ve never read John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, you’re probably familiar with the allegorical description of the Christian life as a dangerous journey filled with “many dangers, toils and snares”. The story is a touchstone in the canon of English-language literature as well as an apt interpreter of the trials, temptations and glimpses of…