Daily writing promptDescribe something you learned in high school.View all responses What I thought I knew. What really happened. And what a wrecked Buick taught me about grace. The Day the Buick Died Memory is a funny thing.It’s not that it lies exactly.It just… edits. More like an impressionist painting than a photograph—blurring edges, shifting... Continue Reading →
The Muse Who Inspired this: A Tribute to Lindsey
How one woman’s fierce faith, clarity, and quiet power is helping me find my voice, my peace, and the man I am becoming. This is Forming 2.0. Why This Story, Why Now After 37 years of teaching—elementary kids, middle schoolers, high school teens, and college students—I’ve learned that stories aren’t just memories. They’re maps. They... Continue Reading →
The Space Between: Where Identity Takes Shape
Daily writing promptWhich aspects do you think makes a person unique?View all responses Making Hall Duty Useful A quiet moment. A moving hallway. A reminder that we are shaped not just by what happens—but by how we see. I was sitting in the hallway at school—hall duty.A job I never trained for in grad school.Teens... Continue Reading →
It Will Grow Back: Parenting with Scissors and a Smile
What Makes You Laugh?Finding joy, surprise, and grace in the chaos of parenting—and remembering to abide You know God has a sense of humor.He says, “Be anxious for nothing”—and then gives us children. My kids make me laugh. They also make me cry. Sometimes both in the same breath. Like the day I found Lucy... Continue Reading →
Not Forever 21
While Waiting Originally written: February 16, 2011 I went to the mall to purchase a gift card from a store aimed squarely at teens. Honestly, it might be more accurate to call it Forever 12, but that name probably wouldn’t pull the same numbers. A few things disturbed me. First—the lines. Long, winding, relentless. The... Continue Reading →
What Most People Don’t Understand About Rest (A Lesson from a Red Chair)
Daily writing promptWhat’s something most people don’t understand?View all responses The Throne of Truth (or How a Red Chair Schooled Me at the Botanic Garden) Most people assume rest is about comfort—about soft seats, fewer demands, a little more ease. But I’m learning it’s not. Real rest—the kind that restores you—isn’t found in luxury or... Continue Reading →
The Upside-Down Daily: Doing More of What Actually Matters
Daily writing promptWhat do you wish you could do more every day?View all responses Because no one ever looked back and wished they’d spent more time sorting socks. Socks to sort. Ever start the day with grand plans to be productive—maybe write something profound, create something meaningful—only to find yourself reorganizing the junk drawer instead?... Continue Reading →
The Art of Getting Lost (and Finding Yourself in the Process)
Daily writing promptWhat activities do you lose yourself in?View all responses Why Time Disappears When We Do What Truly Matters People talk about losing themselves in an activity—like it’s some noble vanishing act, a temporary escape from the everyday. But what if we’ve got it all wrong? What if, instead of losing ourselves, we’re actually... Continue Reading →
Camping with Jesus: Lessons from a Failed Comfort-Seeker
Living from the Inside Out: Why I Might Write a Book (Because I Clearly Need It) Life is Messy Let’s be honest: I need this book as much as anyone. Maybe more. Living from the inside out—by faith, by Christ’s wisdom, by something other than my own chaotic thoughts—is hard. Especially in a world that... Continue Reading →
You are Not the Grade I Give You. You are better than that.
What Do I Have to Do to Get an A? Grading art is absurd. How do you put a letter on creativity? How do you tell a student their work is a B+ when, in reality, it’s either an A for effort or a silent scream for help? And yet, grades must be given, rubrics... Continue Reading →