DEEP WATERS

Hey everybody! Remember me? I haven't been here in over a year. And I won't waste your time with all the reasons why. I will say the underlying reasons are: 1. I am really busy with family and ministry work 2. As much as I love writing, I have spent almost a year and a half telling myself that I'm too busy to get it done (See reason #1) And the thing is this... A quick survey of the current state of my home would reveal a kitchen sink full of dirty dishes, baskets of laundry to put in dresser drawers and floors needing to be cleaned and vacuumed. (I did manage to thoroughly clean my bathroom this weekend, so all hope is not lost...) Anyway, since I don't see life getting any less busy, I've decided to apply my butt to the seat* and commence writing here again. But enough about my blog reunion and on to why I'm here... For about a year now I have had a book idea, and since I haven't begun writing yet, today it remains just that - an idea...

Hurricane Harvey is a national tragedy.  If you're like me, you've watched the footage through tears - footage of ravaged homes, destroyed landscapes and lost lives. Raising four children of my own, I struggled to watch an interview with the mom who lost four children in Harvey. My heart breaks for her and so many others. Yet I had a thought while watching the many Texans that stepped up to the call to help their fellow Texans during the storm and in its aftermath... Hurricane Harvey might be a wake up call. I believe Hurricane Harvey, and tragedies like it, could be a wake up call for a nation that's becoming more and more polarized. You see this polarization everywhere... CNN, Fox and MSNBC news. Our Twitter feeds. And should I even mention the vicious comments and fights on Facebook these days? Just name the topic, and folks are fighting over it - Black Lives Matter, Civil War monuments, immigration, Alt-right marches and demonstrations, and on and on... G...

A day after a grand jury decided not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of an unarmed Michael Brown, I must say -- I am weary.  I am weary of reading and hearing this same news clip over and over again. And I am weary of writing and rewriting the same blog post over and over again. I wrote this same post when Trayvon Martin was killed. I wrote this same post when Mark Zimmerman's trial ended in a not-guilty verdict . And I'm certain I wrote this exact same post when Michael Brown was killed . Maybe you - like me - are ready to discuss a different topic. Maybe you'd like to move on from the issue of race relations in the US.  Maybe you're weary too. But we must speak. We must write. We must persevere despite our weariness and disillusionment. More than anything - we must have HOPE. And it's in the spirit of HOPE that I write today. It's with a heart clinging to hope that I share what I'm hoping for i...

Many writers write every single day. Some write three or four or five days a week according to schedule. I write when I have to write. Today I find myself in that particular mode. I am writing because I must. After Saturday's verdict in the George Zimmerman murder trial , a verdict of not-guilty, I remained quiet and reflective. My emotions: sadness, disappointment, confusion. And yet, my words were few , except for re-posting an old blog post about the case. But that wasn't the case in the social media world around me. On Twitter and Facebook, I read comment after comment from my friends, family members and acquaintances concerning the trial. Some expressed fear for their own sons. Some shared their disillusionment over the US legal system. Many expressed their infuriation. And yet a noticed a strange paradox. For the most part, my friends that expressed their emotions, encouraged prayer for the Martin family and/or reminded others to trust in God ...

Okay, so let me just say this: I have a love/hate relationship with reality television. I have wept over performances on The Voice and So You Think You Can Dance . The beauty I've seen in the fresh talent on shows like that has left me amazed and, at times, in tears. But as the Mama of four kiddos with so much to do and so little time, I just can't commit to reality tv. I just don't have the time to tune every week to see if the girl with the fiery voice or the guy who floats through the air like an Alvin Ailey dancer makes it through to the next level. I just don't have that kind of time... And then there's the reality television that eventually reveals the depths of every character's worst flaws -- a la Jersey Shore . You know, the kind that makes you say, "Wow, at least I'm not that much of a loser..." I personally despise that kind of reality tv. So, it was with much fear and trepidation that I watched the first episode of TLC...