I’m writing from a soup kitchen in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Here there are big rooms packed with rickety bunk beds (some of them piled three high!) on the second and third floors. The soup kitchen is on the first floor. There are around 150 high school students staying here with me and their leaders. And I’m thankful for… The opportunity to see high school kids eating the food put in front of them, without complaint, despite it... Read more
It’s Sunday and I’m sitting on the very last row of a jet moving thousands of feet in the air (Is that true? How high do jets fly?) on my way to New Orleans. I’ve never been to New Orleans before and this was not how I intended to get there. But, here I am, flying alone, on my way to speak about prayer to 200 high school students there this week for a mission trip. I’m not a slick... Read more
I know I keep giving you poems from poets I don’t know enough about to really discuss. But I’m at my parents’ house, watching my kids fill up hours and hours playing with their cousins until it’s way too late. And I can’t help it: I’m full of nostalgia. I love Amarillo summer nights, how dry it is, how it cools down into the low 80s and everything glows the same shade as the setting sun. I love how late... Read more
My Dearest Benedict, You and I didn’t meet in the regular way. I wasn’t making lifelong vows in a sacred space, a cross pressed to my chest, holy fingers on my forehead. Instead, I was soaking in an Epson salt bath, recovering from birthing a child. (Something I’m guessing, you encountered little of in your cloistered life. Though, of course, who can be sure?) I was reading a book and stumbled on a few lines about you. Maybe one sentence?... Read more
I can’t tell you what a Great Big Ol’ Deal it is to have Enuma Okoro here today. She is a fellow Patheos blogger, a lovely thinker, and has one of those smiles that makes you want to forget whatever you were just complaining about. (After you finish this post, I hope you’ll read her books.) I’m thankful she’s willing to spend some time with us. Breakfast at Gretchen’s We lived on the same apartment floor in Paris. For... Read more
It is late on Monday night and tomorrow we will be driving away from Cousin Camp 2012, which has been a great success, despite my swimsuit bottoms being flushed down the toilet. (What? you say. Exactly.) Tomorrow we head back to my parents’ for awhile and Chris is already back in working-land. I don’t have much time (or enough energy) to elaborate much around here on this fine Thankful Tuesday. But I’ll say a few things in my list of... Read more
Today I’m away with my family at “Cousins Camp.” Yes, I’m not even joking. We call it that and we have t-shirts. So, in my stead, the ever faithful Adam McHugh is here to do what he does best. If you don’t know Adam or his work, get yourself a copy of his book, Introverts in the Church. It will change how you think about Church culture. One of my all-time favorite quotes comes from Henri Nouwen’s book Reaching Out:... Read more
I’m now in Amarillo, my hometown. We got here on the 4th and it will be homebase for the boys and me over the next couple of weeks. My 90-year-old grandfather, whom I’ve written about here and here, had a stroke on Tuesday, the day before we got here. It’s been a gift that I had already planned to be here in town and that I’ve been able to see him. Yesterday he was able make words again and especially... Read more
I’m sure you probably read this month’s featured article in the Atlantic. If you haven’t, read it here, and then read all 18 gazillion responses to it around the web. (Or, if you’d rather, just a couple of them here and here.) If you are a woman or a man who loves a woman, or a man who one day may love a woman, you should read Anne-Marie Slaughter’s article, “Why Women Can’t Have it All,” which brings into question the... Read more
Happy Independence Day! It’s a joy to have Angie Mabry-Nauta contributing to our “Freedom” edition of {This Sacred Everyday}. I met Angie in April at The Festival of Faith and Writers and was immediately taken by her boldness and her story of pastoring, being broken and finding the courage to seek God’s healing. I’m grateful she’s willing to share a bit her life with us today. The gift of freedom…to child from parent, with love Your heart is free…have... Read more
Micha Boyett
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