For the longest time, I had this idea of God’s will for my life being like a balancing act on a tightrope. With each step forward, my body teetered back and forth, sweat dripping off my face. I had to focus hard on thinking, saying, and doing the right thing in order to stay up. One small mistake and I would soon find myself spiraling down to the hard ground below. I stressed over what God wanted for my life when really, I couldn’t move anywhere for a crippling fear of…

David was 30 years old when he began to reign over Israel. The latter half of that 30 years was spent trying to keep his distance from king Saul, the previous king of Israel, who was out to kill him. In this musing, I concentrate on the theological implications of a battle between David and the Philistines (or, better, God and David versus the Philistines), which happened early on in his reign over Israel. Open your Bible to 1 Chronicles 14, starting with verse 8: “When the Philistines heard that David had been…

This Fall marks my second year of teaching a theology class at my church. The class covers all sorts of subjects pertaining to what makes up the orthodox faith of Christianity. Our subject for Sunday’s lesson was taking a look at God’s Word, the Bible, and exploring some of the truths about it.

For many Christians, the Bible is something they know they should probably read more, but can’t quite find the time or motivation to make it happen. It can feel like a daunting task, especially if you’re not super familiar with the Scriptures or…

I sat on the plane en route to Mexico City, mourning all the things I hadn't checked off of my to-do list. My four years of high school Spanish had yet to resurface, and I had only made it to “Él es un muchacho. Él bebé leche” on DuoLingo. My list of “Things to Eat” only had one all-inclusive bullet point: tacos. I hadn’t begun Sandra Cisneros’ Woman Hollering Creek—a book I have owned since college, purchased for some class, and never opened because, let’s be honest, in the deluge of assigned reading, SparkNotes became my dear friend--like the one with all the extra meal plan points at the end of the semester…

My sophomore year, I lived in just about the seediest place imaginable. It looked as if someone tried to DIY an entire apartment with a $50 Walmart gift card and a staple gun. All of our cupboards were slightly off center, our bathroom was eerily lit by a single flickering bulb, and the carpet was so cheap that bits of it would clump together and roll across the hall like tumbleweeds. Aside from the everyday shabbiness and the…