Birthing pains. The agonizing pains a woman endures as the life inside desires to purge herself from her amniotic cocoon that’s been her incubator. Pain indicates the fullness of time. Time to exit a space no longer hospitable to life. Dying pains. Remarkably they mirror birthing pains; reluctance, fear of the unknown, purgation, and fragility. The guarantee of human existence is that we enter and leave in much the same way–– through birthing pains. Birth…
I spent time talking to an old friend and former China teammate last week. As we reminisced and caught up, I asked her if she had plans for Lent this season with her family. Before she answered, she immediately went back to her experience of Lent in China describing how hard it felt to lean into Lent with intention when daily life overseas already felt like and ongoing season of Lent. I immediately understood her…
The repercussions of COVID-19 are spreading wider than we anticipated. We suddenly find ourselves at home quarantined with life on hold. What do we do when all our plans are thrown out the window with seemingly no way to consider what the future may hold?
