The Work of the Trowel
Holidays often find me with my hands in the dirt. My host city’s religious culture is split three ways. This means a variety of temples/places of...
Category: Re-Entry
How Priests and Pitchforks are Helping Me Return
A few years ago, I lived in a sweet little cottage in rural America. Every spring, I’d spend hours cleaning up the yard and flower beds. One of the...
Re-entry is Not a Returning
I thought I’d have words of wisdom about re-entry after two years back stateside. It’s a surprise and a disappointment to me that I am still struggling to find...
Back to the Shire
In the busy chatter of the pub, it would be easy to overlook the powerful transition taking place over a pint. After a long and arduous journey, four friends—bonded...
It’s All Beyond Me
Last week I was in front of a fan, sipping boba and planning for the next Zoom class I’d teach. Today I’m huddled under a blanket next to a...
A Safe Space During Re-entry
About one year ago, I was fighting yet another wave of panic about my upcoming relocation from Asia to America. I’d been living overseas for...
You Feel That Way Too?!
I glanced at each of the small video screens compiled on my laptop and the faces that filled each one. None of us looked alike. I was the only...
Struggling with Guilt in the Face of Poverty
I was in Wal-Mart shortly after getting married, shopping for household necessities. I’d bypassed the paper goods section, as I never buy napkins or paper towels, but found myself...
God Is Not Boring
I have learned that God is not boring. Instead He is full of surprises. Some of these surprises I like and some of them I detest, but they all come...
Hope for the Rootless Days
My heart has always been rooted in rich Nebraska soil. As a kid, my imagination transported me around the world and back again, but my feet never wandered farther...
