Our Stories Unleashed

The Event of Failure

Today was a difficult day. Understanding the publication of these words will not follow for a length of time after this day that I am writing them, I am aware it would be more formal to write in a past tense. “I recently had a difficult day,” I could say. A true statement, yes, but a shallow one. It creates a distance between the hardness of the day and the words I am writing that does not really exist – not yet, at least. The truth of the matter is some days are difficult...

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Reflections on Faith in Gardening

Early this year I started several seeds under grow lights in my house. I planned in advance what I wanted to add to my flower beds and what vegetables I would start from seed rather than buying starts at a nursery. I planted the seeds in small starter pods and checked them each day to see what had germinated. Once they started growing a little, I moved each plant to a larger pot to continue growing. As I transplanted the new starts to bigger, four-inch pots, I noticed several things about...

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What Tone Does God Take Toward You?

What tone do you think God takes towards you?   When you read stories of Jesus throughout Scripture, what does His voice sound like to you? Is your reading predominantly scholarly, removing most of the tone and inflection from the passages? Does He sound more firm and rigid? If you imagine thirty-year-old Jesus living alongside the disciples, going town to town to teach, heal and be present, do you picture his eyes cut in determination or framed in wrinkles from smile and...

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