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On the first day of school as a child, my sisters and I got our picture taken in frontRead more

A few years ago, I wrote a piece for CommonGrounds Online called “Staying Awake.” Its premise, in a nutshell, was to call believers to stay awake even in the suffering seasons. My example came from Luke 22: 45, when the disciples could not stay awake with Jesus as He sweat bled and wrestled with the Father’s will. Luke says it was "for sorrow" that the disciples slept; the three could not bear to be with their friend and face his pain with Him. His inner circle checked out.

 I still stand by that call. But a trip to the hair salon expanded my view. The gift of "presence" is beyond treasure. As Margaret Guenther suggests in The Art of Spiritual Direction "compassion is never a cheap or easy gift." It costs to stay awake, and so many of us fail in the face of our friend’s struggle. 

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Transitions are tough.Read more

Some years ago I read a book that I was sure every woman should read. Buying them in bulk, I distributed them to all my friends. (We joke that Campus Crusade staff members are evangelists for everything we love, whether it be bargains or books.) A few friends were also wooed by the book, and we began gathering yearly with the author to explore each other’s stories as we explored knowing Jesus more deeply.

The women in our office began meeting to talk about the book, too. That was four years and four books ago. We have had many women come through our office since then, joining our Tuesday book club. We close the doors to our conference room and unpack our lunches and our lives.

This has become a sacred time of friendship. In 2007 a Duke University researcher found that 50 percent of Americans have two or less people with whom they can have a meaningful conversation. (Obviously, your number of “friends” on Facebook belies your intimate confidants.) The results of this study are a fearful fact for Christians.Read more

Three CGO contributors spoke at the last Synergy conference for women in mission. You can hear Carolyn Custis James talk about her new book The Gospel According to Ruth: Loving God Enough to Break the Rules, Leigh McLeroy’s encouraging message entitled The Plot Thickens: Following the Story’s Twists and Turns, and Reggie Kidd’s Our Sister Phoebe. Read more

I should post something about Easter, since tomorrow is Maundy Thursday and then we have Good Friday, time in the tomb and hell, and finally Resurrection Day. I have not been faithful to meditate on the account again this year. (I’m in James--The MESSAGE version--I downloaded from iTunes listening on my drive to work.)

But I need to remember the story, revisit the moments, meet with my Savior in His suffering, wait with the women, and rejoice in the end of death. I need to tell myself this story again, so I can find my own place again. Without His story, I feel unanchored, alone and even angry. There’s so much hurt between people, so much brokenness, so much death--the “Melchezedek moments” aside (thanks for that, Linc.).Read more

In the last couple of weeks, two of the Read more

When Bailey and Elizabeth Marks married in 1959, their future appeared obvious. Bailey would work in his family’s successful furniture business and Elizabeth would raise their family in Birmingham, Ala., just like her debutante friends: with a nanny and maid and dream home overlooking a golf course

When God interrupted their plans, the Marks’ response reflected that of any new believer. “Little did I know the growing pains we were all about to experience,” says Bailey, “as we settled into a new way of life. Growing up spiritually was tough for me, probably because the Lord had a tough time getting my attention.” When He did, the Marks’ family up and sold their home, raised their financial support and moved to Campus Crusade for Christ’s headquarters, then in San Bernadino, Ca.

Once they arrived, Bailey faced another growing pain. There was no big, change-the-world job waiting for him. His fist assignment was to drive people between the headquarters and the Los Angeles airport. After two weeks of chauffeuring, Bailey began to use the lonely leg of the trip to argue with the Lord. “Is this what I left my lucrative business for?” he would ask. “I could have hired someone to do this job and continued my life in Birmingham!” Read more

In five weeks, I went to four funerals. And only one was a “natural death”-- the kind when someone lives a full life, coos over their grandchildren and their body just stops for being worn out.

One was a violent murder. Someone shot my friend in his home and the police do not know why. Another friend jumped 15 stories to his death, a long-planned exit, grisly and aggressive. The final friend died after cancer ate up all his organs.

Rounding the corner to mid-life has been bumpy. The more people you know the more stories you here of death and destruction, sad accidents and evil intentions. It gets hard on the heart, for me at least. I’m tempted to shut down.

When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, he asked Peter, James and John to stay awake with Him, “to see” His sorrow. Three times He asked them. Three times they fell asleep. Luke says it was from sorrow. Jesus’ inner circle closed their eyes to His deep pain and grief. Read more