Leaving is never easy, and being part of the church only amplifies loss. The social structure of church is family; indeed, the dominant metaphor in the New Testament for non-Jewish believers is adoption into the family of GOD. Leaving a church then always feels like leaving a family. And being a minister at a church, the line between work and home is often blurred if not absent. We will miss our church family in Decatur, and we look forward...

We’ve always dreamed of traveling and seeing the world – to experience different cultures, see natural wonders, and meet those whom GOD also created and loves. For the past few years, we’ve taken one big trip a year – to Hawaii, New Zealand/Australia, England, France, China, Italy, Alaska – but two week trips when we could steal away from work only whet our appetite for longer stays. In the past year, we started a...

We have never identified more strongly with characters on screen than during this remarkable, perfect scene from Pixar’s UP. Love expressed through small gestures like reaching for the hand. The pain and hollowness of infertility. The decision to move past heartbreak and toward Paradise Falls. Unlike Carl & Ellie, we have good health and enough financial freedom to make that trip now, and this fictional, yet so profoundly real...

It’s not a topic that most people are open about, and we’ve also been very selective with sharing our struggles with infertility over the years. For us, part of it was because we didn’t think anyone could identify with our pain, especially when few seemed to have a problem getting pregnant (and if they were having problems, they were hiding in the shadows too). Another part was because we thought no one wanted to hear our story and we...