To the Father of an Independent Daughter
She was one of those girls I’m drawn to. Messy and wild. Fire in her eyes. Grit in her spirit. She’s not the first of her type that has sat across from me, dreaming and boiling over with what God is doing in her. She’s not the first of her type who has shrugged off her relationship with her dad while swallowing her water.
What You Wear to Your Mom's Funeral
I had made so many decisions over the previous days. How was I going to sum up the life of my incredible, larger-than-life mother?
Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)
There was a piece of my mother that remained absolutely her own. When I hear this song, I see her that way - not as a mom or a wife or a woman doing ministry.
If She'd Been Healed...
If she'd been healed, we would have had a great story. A great testimony. But the thing is, sometimes the testimony isn't that God gave you what you wanted - it's that He made you into the person you couldn't become without the tragedy.
When Hosannas Turn Silent
I walked through the train station on Wednesday like I was in a fog. Everything seemed muted and fuzzy and I noticed an acute absence of that joy, that wild praise that had driven my steps earlier in the week. That bursting-with-love heart I had carried had been replaced with the sad bruised one. Even breathing hurt.
On Grief.
Some days she is there to remind me of favor and blessing. She sometimes slips in where I least expected her to remind me how very - lucky is not a strong enough word - lucky I am to have had something so wonderful, and it must have been quite wonderful to grieve it so strongly. Sometimes she holds my hand and won't let me forget beautiful things.
"Dump It All"
The realization settled on me - this was all that was left of her life. Everything she bought, everything she carefully considered and saved up for, every piece of art she had decided to hang on her wall - all of it was gone.
The Delp Women
I am favored beyond reason to be a part of a family with a beautiful legacy of redemption, grace, and intercession.
Happy Birthday, Dad.
Being a pastor's kid has all sorts of implications. There's a strange element about watching the pastor of your church walk around your house in the morning, tuck you in at night, and lose his temper.
Happy Birthday, Vinita
She goes about her day - brushing the dog, sweeping the floor, playing piano, reading, whatever it may be - with a grace that few others achieve. Not the kind of grace of someone who is arrogant or putting on a show; but the kind born of simple love.
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.
- I hear she is great to shop with, but I hate shopping. So, ask my sister or Lyndsay and Rachel’s mom.- She whines about her glasses always being dirty as she is holding them in her hands and rubbing them with her fingers.- She knows every song written by James Taylor, and with most of the hits of the 70s she can tell you right where she was when she listened to it.