A teenage girl is in love, dreaming of a new life. Yet underneath all the predictable expectations, there is a restless spirit. An aimlessness…
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An elderly priest is defined by duty. His lifelong desire for a child thwarted by circumstances beyond his control. So he keeps on keeping on, doing what he knows to do…yet without hope.
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Today I worked harder physically than I have in a long time, and you know what? It felt great. It was the epitome of “good tired.” It was the opposite of yesterday…
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When I look back across the landscape of my life, I think it’s fair to say that I’ve been seeking the “unforced rhythms of grace” for all my days…
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I turned to Kellie and asked, “Is there anywhere else in the world you would rather be?” We gazed around at the epic vista sprawling beneath us…
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Is it just me, or can eating seem really stressful at times? You want to make good decisions for your health, but you also want to put something really tasty in your mouth…
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In his Confessions, Augustine grieves the time he wasted looking for God “out there somewhere” when God actually was nearer than his own heart.
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Have you ever thought of a breath as delicious? One of the practices we use at the forthcoming Vining Center opens with these words, “Begin by taking two or three deep breaths…”
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My daughter and her family live a mile down the road from us, next door to two of our Airbnb houses, so we have a casual relationship with a couple of the neighbors there…
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Who is the hardest person in your life to love? Kellie and I were in Wilmington for two weeks last month, primarily to savor the gorgeous wedding of our son Thorpe with our new daughter Cailyn…
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Three years ago I got my first chance to remodel a house. It’s more work than you think, but it’s also an unparalleled opportunity…
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I have a complicated relationship with time. See if any of this sounds familiar to you…
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Five years ago I was introduced to a practice so ancient as to seem perhaps antiquated: worship through icons…
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One of the things I will tell my dad when we go hiking next is that his “voice” is always in my head…
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Almost exactly 22 years ago, I took my first sabbatical. I was a 34-year-old pastor, and the staff was getting our first-ever round of extended time off…
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You probably wouldn’t say that God is male specifically, but what does your mental image look like?
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Five years ago Kellie and I moved up to the North Carolina mountains just outside of Blowing Rock. It was a homecoming of sorts for me…
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“Thin places.” The term is often applied to geographic locations that feel particularly sacred…
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