I'm over at Middle Places!

"It’s gorgeous, right? The lighting is perfect. My children are clean and color coordinated. Everyone is looking at the camera at the same time. They are even SMILING. My hair isn’t doing anything weird, and my toddler isn’t pulling on my dress. My very talented photographer friend managed to capture a single moment when everyone is doing what they are supposed to do. It’s absolutely beautiful. Only, this moment didn't happen."

I'm over at Middle Places talking about family portraits, and the composites we offer to one another. 

Ever lost a friend over politics? Me too.

I once lost a Bible Study friend to the Iraq War.

It was 2003. The air was thick with political and social tension in the months before the US bombed Baghdad. She was a fiery pro-Bush, pro-war advocate. I was a vehement anti-Bush, anti-war enthusiast. One night before our small group Bible study began, conversation drifted toward politics. Typically our equally strong personalities encouraged the other, but that night they clashed. We were both convinced our way was not only more accurate, but the more faithful response. In the middle of our discussion, my friend picked up her purse, stood up, and said, “I can’t listen to this anymore.” She hurried away from my apartment. I watched her leave, dumbfounded.

Read more over at Venn Magazine. 

We can't look away.

"Faith is homesickness.  Faith is a lump in the throat.  Faith is less a position on than a movement toward, less a sure thing than a hunch.  Faith is waiting.  Faith is a journeying through space and through time." - Frederick Buechner

This week, images of a lifeless little boy washed up on a shore have outraged the world. As they should.

I'll be honest. At first I couldn't look at the images at all. They reminded me too much of the image of my own little lifeless boy, and even knowing the picture existed raised my heart rate. Then, today, I made myself look at it. I made myself acknowledge this is happening right now, in my lifetime. Families are running away from chaos and into dangerous uncertainty. My mind went immediately to all the pictures that are never captured by professional photographers, all the mothers carrying their own indelible images just like mine. All the mothers who did not have the tremendous advantage of trained professionals to save their children's lives, the fathers who board a boat one life vest short, and must gauge which child would stand the best chance of survival if he fell. At this very moment there are parents making excruciating, unimaginable decisions to try to save their children's lives. And mothers who died this week alongside their toddler boys, never living to see their personal tragedy played out on CNN. May light perpetual shine upon them.