The Ripple Effects of Ordinary Lives
When I was in graduate school, I took a class called Biographies of Outstanding Global Workers. It was one of my favorite classes because I got to read a big stack of books and talk about them with my classmates. I even dressed up as Lottie Moon for one assignment, and I taught a class […]
Merry Christmas from Velvet Ashes
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.” — Isaiah 9:2 Merry Christmas, dear Velvet Ashes community. Wherever this day finds you—gathered around a crowded table or eating something familiar in a place that still feels foreign, celebrating with teammates or holding quiet space for the homesickness that tugs at your heart—Christ comes […]
Echoes of Light
“When the candle is burning, who looks at the wick? When the candle is out, who needs it? But the world without light is wasteland and chaos, and a life without sacrifice is abomination.” Annie Dillard Midlife has crept up on me. One of the gifts of aging, as I see it, is the familiarity […]
The Echo of Advent
Have you ever felt as if you were standing on the edge of a cliff, looking out over a vast chasm, calling out for help or comfort? You listen—straining, stretching yourself for any sound other than the echo of your own voice. But then your voice bounces back, tired and hollow, as though it were […]
Change the Echo
“Since a woman cannot be effective alone on the field, we are reducing your support and then ending it.” I heard those words from a woman who came up to me after a conference—words she received after becoming a widow on the field. In the midst of grief and upheaval, that was the message she […]
This Month’s Theme: Echo
An echo can carry so many layers of meaning. Sometimes, it reminds us of being alone—our own words bouncing back to us in an empty room, amplifying the sense of silence and isolation. Many of us have known seasons where our voices seemed to echo in emptiness, wondering if anyone was listening. But echoes can […]