TBH: Teaching in a Hostile Environment

Recently, I have had a few conversations with fellow teachers that have caused me to, once again, consider why it is that I have dedicated my life to public education. To be honest, I don’t know if I would stick with teaching if I was just starting out today. The pay on average is not

The Pattern of Death and Life

Over the last year, I have been thinking about getting a tattoo. Most people who have tattoos start when they are pretty young. My brother, for example, got his first tattoo (as far as I know) when he was seventeen while my sister starting tattooing herself (with India ink) at a much younger age. I

A Balanced Christian in a Public School Setting

For a Christian woman, I have an odd job. I have been teaching in public schools as an English teacher for twenty years. Now, on the surface, that might not seem like such a strange job. Plenty of Christians are public school teachers. However, I am not your usual Christian public school teacher because I

A New View of Suffering

About ten years ago, I started writing reflections about my journey with God and focused my attention on the concepts of sacrifice and surrender. This was based on an understanding of joining together with Christ in His suffering. Peter addresses this issue when he explains, “Don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going

Feeling a Little Blah…

I’ve been in a dry spell for the last few months. This spell is so bad that even words are difficult to conjure out of the air. I usually write to figure out what I think, like Flannery O’Connor. However, lately the creative process just isn’t fruitful. In fact, it’s pretty nonexistent. I used to

Death: A Strange Part of Life

Death is such a strange part of life. Most of us spend our lifetimes trying to avoid our own death, and when someone we love has died, we struggle to know how to respond. This last week, my stepdad passed away suddenly overnight. We knew it was coming, but just not so soon. He went

A Reflection on the Seven Ages of Man

A few weeks ago, I watched a stage production of Shakespeare’s comedy, As You Like It, put on by Stage Door Productions in Fredericksburg, VA. The actor portraying Jacques did a wonderful job with “The Seven Ages of Man” in Act Two, Scene 7, lingering in his description of the stages that many endure throughout

The Heroes of the 20/21 School Year

This school year has been incredibly difficult for so many reasons. Teachers needed to learn new ways to reach their students, including learning management systems and virtual conferencing. For those of us with technology flowing through our veins, that wasn’t the difficult part. The difficult part was figuring out how to maintain relationships with our

Corporate Repentance: A Look to the Past

Over the last few months, I have been reading through the Bible in a different way than ever before. The Bible plan that I am using this year is thematic: Genesis with Romans, Isaiah with Mark, and now Leviticus with Hebrews. I have greatly enjoyed seeing how different sections of the Bible relate to one

Goodbye…Again?

In the fall of 2006, Garry and I came out to Virginia for a wedding. Little did I know at the time that Virginia would become home for the next thirteen years of our marriage, bringing with it tremendous change in our family, our ministry, and our daily lives. In 2014, we thought we were