Lent has never been part of my tradition, but I went to our church last night for Ash Wednesday. It was like an open house, so you could walk in and pray in your own time, take communion, and let the pastor put ashes on your forehead. As I went in, I went straight to the large cross and stood before it, praying. I poured out my heart for Rob, our kids, our futures. Then I just looked at the cross.... Read more
“My son came out to his dad and I last night. His dad kicked him out. So I am now in a hotel with my son. Home is where the heart is and tonight that makes Motel 6 home.” Kicking your LGBTQ child out in love is a ludicrous idea. No definition of love includes throwing out your gay child. That’s more like hate. I know, we mix them up sometimes. Kids are dying out there, and I felt it was time... Read more
“This morning in my adult Sunday School, someone said ‘I don’t understand how homosexuals can say they are Christians.’ How do I respond to this? I am a Christian, raised our gay son in a Christian home.” This statement from a reader came in an email and is commonly asked as a real concern for people, as if being a Christian means being free from difficult issues they personally don’t understand or find reprehensible. Where do I begin? I hear... Read more
When our adult child told us they had same-sex attraction, we were shocked. The usual questions flooded us: what would this mean for their life? Would they be safe? Would they ever have children? We truly had no idea what lay ahead. But here’s the realization that smacked us: we were now the “others.” Whether we shared this information or not (we thought we would not), the church was no longer our home. In our twenty-plus years at some great,... Read more
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:43-45 Do you remember Disney classic Sleeping Beauty — when the fairies clean house, make a cake, and design a dress for Sleeping Beauty? These fairies have been charged to protect the princess from the evil Maleficent, who has cursed her to die.... Read more
When my daughter Hannah was little, she would raise her hand at the kitchen table and say, “Pick me, pick me!” so she could say something. Yeah, she was cute. Still is. I often want God to ‘pick me, pick me,’ when He has a task that needs doing. Something exciting! He has done that many times and I am honored and humbled. Sometimes, I seem to be slow off the starting blocks. I’m a little afraid it won’t pan... Read more
Beautiful people. The time has come. It’s time to be you were designed to be. I just watched Amy Cuddy’s inspiring TED talk about power through body language. Oh my gosh. I was undone by how easily we give away our power, without even knowing it. A random look or gesture, or minimizing words, can make us feel small. Choiceless. Voiceless. I thought of all the times I have made myself smaller to maintain approval. And I thought of you. The... Read more
I walked into an office one day and there she was – the cutest little thing staring up at me with those big eyes! She waved and said, “Bye!” as she tottered out behind her daddy. Oh my gosh! What complete openness in her face, in her heart! She was just being who she was. Where does that delight, that freedom go? After raising five kids – and having been a kid myself – I thought about that wide-eyed wonder... Read more
What is your secret? Come on, you have one. We all do. A secret we are afraid to share. So did Michael Sam, the Missouri football player who recently came out as gay, and who will soon be the first openly gay NFL player. But there is a big difference in Michael’s secret and most of ours. Ours are usually about our behavior – a choice, a mistake we made that we are afraid to share. But Michael, like most... Read more
How obligated are we to each other? Who is our neighbor? Jesus gives the last word on these questions in the wonderful story of the Good Samaritan, where he tells all of us to love each other, period. I took a fresh look at that story here. But I experienced the Good Samaritan firsthand, at the Gay Christian Network Conference in January. A group of us had volunteered to work at a local homeless shelter before the conference. We had all... Read more
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