Intersections

What are you looking forward to doing tonight? Hopefully, this is the highlight of Christmas Eve for most of you. I know it is for me. I am blessed to be worshipping and celebrating the birth of our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ. After the service, my family and I will go to Tadj’s cousin’s house to visit with family we don’t see as often as I think we would like. We’ve packed the kids’ pajamas, so we know we’ll leave late. Those kids need to get into bed once we get home because you know who will stop by.  We’ve been preparing for weeks, and now here we are. I hope tonight lives up to all the ads which have been touting how you’re supposed to feel on Christmas. I hope you’re warm (especially tonight) and loving, even if your wallets are empty. Tonight is a night for peace and joy.  Several years ago, when Aaron was just a baby, we went through Franke Park for the light display. But we went on Christmas Day, at five o’clock, right after it got dark - or maybe it was seven. B...

       Wandering can be good for the soul. As Shakespeare once wrote, “ All that glitters is not gold .” Put another way by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings , “Not all who wander are lost.” Tolkien was describing a character running from his rightful place as king. He knew his destiny, but it carried such weight he was not ready to fulfill his calling.        In my life, I have been a wanderer. After being involved in church during high school and looking to get into leadership, I was too self-involved or did not want to submit to the great weight of the role that I felt led toward, feeling not worthy of the responsibility, much like Tolkien’s character, although obviously not to that degree. I dropped out of many things in my early twenties and was suffering from undiagnosed anxiety and depression. It took another decade and, unfortunately, much more pain for me, not to mention therapy and healing, to get me to the point where I am in fron...