Yesterday I flew from Florida to Oregon, which means that I was on airplanes for most of the day. I got home from the airport around midnight and checked my phone — to find the horrific news coming out of Dallas. Coming on the heels of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, the murder of five police officers was….well….words simply fail to describe the tragedy and travesty. I woke up this morning with so many emotions, which I tried to untangle... Read more
Yesterday I read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book, Between The World And Me. It’s a letter from a black father to his son, reflecting on his experience of discrimination, racism and the broken narrative Americans live with, where wealthy white men have pursued the American Dream at the expense of people whose skin color was different from theirs. (They also pursued it at the expense of people whose gender was different from theirs — but that’s a post for a different time.) The... Read more
I have spent the past nine months working on my second book, which is about seeing Jesus show up in Togo, the least happy country in the world, during the three months I spent working at a hospital there last year. I sent in the second rewrite last week. The day after I turned it in, I was riding the train from Bloomington, IL to Chicago to take my niece and nephews to the zoo. As we passed miles and... Read more
Looking back on my interview at Yale’s PA program, I try to remember what I meant when I told them I was going to change the world some day. In my mind, “changing the world” mean that I was single-handedly going to fix broken systems and places around the globe and that, because of my efforts, the entire world would be a radically different place. I didn’t even know exactly what I was going to do for the world. I... Read more
When I was interviewing at Yale’s Physician Assistant program, I was 22 years old, sitting across from a daunting admissions committee. One of the men on the panel lowered his reading glasses, looked down at me, and asked, “Ms. Thebarge, why should we let you into Yale?” In that moment, I knew I had two choices. I could play it safe and give the usual answers — talking about Yale’s advantages, and about my GPA, volunteer experience and pre-requisite courses.... Read more
Last week, I read about a new wedding trend. Apparently, at the reception, instead of throwing the bouquet, brides are handing one flower to each single woman in attendance and praying for her to find a husband. When I read that, I thought, “HOLD.THE.PHONE.” And I wondered what I would do if I was at a wedding where the bride tried to do that to me. Lucky for all of us, I was on a writing deadline and didn’t have... Read more
I know for a lot of people, Father’s Day can bring up a lot of bad memories of neglect, abuse, and worse. But I feel exceptionally blessed to wake up this morning feeling grateful because of the man my father is. He’s been in full-time ministry for more than three decades, and has helped more people than anyone will ever know. Not only has he spoken and led from the front, but he has also shown up at hospitals, schools,... Read more
I was on chemotherapy during the summer of 2007. My mom went to church one Sunday and I stayed home because I didn’t feel well. I turned on the T.V. and watched George Stephanopoulos’ program. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were in full swing, and at the end of his show every week, they rolled the names of soldiers who had died that week. As I watched the names of the fallen scroll across the screen, I saw the... Read more
Hi, friends!!! I just wanted to write a quick update to let you know how things are going. A month ago, I was on my way to Kenya to deliver medical supplies to a school for orphans on Rusinga Island, in rural western Kenya. I enjoyed my time with the kids there, and it was very gratifying to be able to give supplies to the school and train the teachers on how to provide medical care to the kids. And... Read more
On Monday night I took a short flight from Kisumu to Nairobi, and then took a red-eye flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam. I had a layover in Amsterdam before I flew to Toronto, where I’ll be spending a few days exploring the city with my parents before speaking at a youth conference this weekend. During my Amsterdam layover, I went to a coffee shop in the airport and ordered a large Americano — the first real espresso/coffee I had in more than... Read more
Sarah Thebarge
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In