I'm so glad you found your way to my little corner of the neighborhood! Pull up a chair and stay, and let's chat about life on the margins and loving Jesus and, obviously, where to find the best cheese dip and most life-changing books.
Lately, I’ve been fantasizing about quitting everything.
My hero (Father G, obviously) describes the difference between exhaustion and burnout. He says that exhaustion happens when we have been working hard and long, and we are simply tired. When we are exhausted, we need rest. But burnout happens when we are trying to save people, stepping into a role we were never designed to fill.
Traveling for the holidays? Ideas for Christmas gifts your kids will love, that you can fit in your suitcase!
As a director of a nonprofit in urban Atlanta, during the holiday season my inbox inevitably fills with emails from parents eager to “give back.” “Do we know a family they can buy Christmas gifts for?” parents ask. “Can they bring their kids down to serve a meal, to deliver presents?”
I wanted to take a minute and invite all of you, my friends across the oceans and around the corner, to be a part of our vision - to build something beautiful alongside us. To build community and relationships. To build hope and grace and a deep belief in second chances. And third chances and forth ones. To build a movement of neighbors and friends who believe the creation of a place more beautiful and hopeful is not only possible, but something we can all play a role in creating.
Are you an introvert but still long to network at conferences or other events? Maybe the thought of talking to so many new people (or so many people period) makes you break out in hives. Maybe, like me, you wonder how to authentically build your network of connections?
Have you ever felt the kind of fear that leaves you immobilized?
You know those moments - when you’re afraid and cant move into the places you find yourself drawn, because fear whispers louder than faith?
There are days when the sun shines, and times when the rain falls in heavy drops. But our worth isn't in dramatic transformation as much as it is the faithfulness of loving relentlessly. . .
After church on Sunday, we will leave with nine high school boys to take them to the beach. For us at Blueprint, this beach trip represents far more than a simple vacation . . .
I feel such a sense of awe at the holiness of relationships forged across every boundary. I thought I'd share with you 10 lessons I have learned about why relationships matter, drawing us closer to Jesus and making our hearts more like His.
How can we know what we should read, unless our friends tell us? Sign up to access my 2018 Summer Reading Guide!
This morning, we ask you to help us see ourselves and those around us through your eyes instead of our own.
Speaking of radical generosity, here are some amazing organizations and places around Atlanta that you can get plugged in and make a difference.
So today, I am going to practice giving more away, leveraging what I have to champion the people around me doing Kingdom work and telling beautiful stories.
We confess that as the world turns slow in its arc around the sun, so too we are slow to turn from sin towards you. Help us, Father, to reflect your love and hope to a world in desperate need of light. We want to be the moon, steadfast in our own orbit reflecting you.
Ordinary, I suppose, will be the marker for our days, holy or not. But aren’t they all holy? Days strung together like rosary beads reminding us to pray unceasingly, to thank Him for music and dirty diapers and for fresh starts and mornings spent with friends. Easter means new beginnings and courage where we once trembled in fear. It means ragtag unlikely disciples infused with a fresh dose of everything we need to face ordinary days in the light of freedom and grace.
I think of holding my two-year-old in front of middle schoolers who have poor prefrontal cortex development, and also guns. I question all my life choices and tremble slightly at how things might have gone differently.
Sometimes, dreams feel closer then I ever imagined they might. And still, the work is hard and the way seems long. But we are taking both baby and big steps towards big moves and changes, including a community center in our neighborhood and a story that has been germinating in my heart for years.
