Outside the Pigeon Holes

 My good friend recently lost her sweet dog, Tucker (pictured, along with his best friend Simba). As losses like these usually do, it reminded me how important it is to share the stories of our animal companions and celebrate the blessings that they are to our lives. Therefore, in honor of Tucker and all of my own fuzzies (the ones still with us and the ones who have gone on) and in conjunction with LightByGrace Photogtraphy I am offering a forum for you to share the stories of your beloved animal companions and an opportunity for someone in the Greater Cincinnati Area* to win a free portrait session for your fuzzy! Here's how it works: 1) Submit a photo and a few paragraphs (500 word limit) about your animal companion to lightbygracephoto@gmail.com. You can share anything - a funny story, how they came to be with you, how they touch your life, etc. 2) Beginning on Valentine's Day, each story will be featured on the LightByGrace Photography Blog . 3) On Mar

I love to read. I hope that in addition to the beautiful, sunny forest that Papa showed me my corner of heaven will have, there will be somewhere I can be surrounded by books. The first time I walked into a Barnes and Noble I seriously almost had an anxiety attack because I didn't know where to start. I had never ever seen so many books in one place. It was overwhelming at the same time it was exhilarating. I always have a stack of books to read and a list of books to add to that stack. Here are just a few that I have on my list for upcoming consumption:  A year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans:  I am currently reading this one. Good stuff! See what happens when a thoroughly modern woman starts referring to her husband as “master” and “praises him at the city gate” with a homemade sign. Learn the insights she receives from an ongoing correspondence with an Orthodox Jewish woman, and find out what she discovers from her exchanges with a polygamist wife.  Join he

My reply to a blog post discussion with an atheist...I was not attempting to convert him. Just sharing my story.  What a neat discussion...I love it when people can talk about these kinds of things respectfully. How much we can learn from each other when we know that the other person is not going to ridicule or go off or resort to insults. THANKS! For what it's worth, my two cents are below. :) I grew up in Evangelicalism, but my faith became the most alive when I ditched the rules and the play-book of 'making converts' through arguing the Bible and defending God (God doesn't really need me to do that anyway). I made it about 'me and God', not 'me, the rules and how I can convince everyone that my religion is right by explaining the Bible empirically'. You can't do that. The Bible isn't a science book. It is a book of experiences and intepretations of experiences by other people - humans as jacked up and confused by life as I am than I was

One way of studying Scripture that I really enjoy is called Lectio Divina. (The folks at Darkwood Brew call it "Pneuma Divina"). From time to time here I would love to offer a passage of Scripture and hear the thoughts, 'downloads' and ideas that you get from it. Here is an overview of how to practice Lectio Divina. I have been struggling through the questions of how much violence I should be supportive of as a follower of Christ. Did Jesus ever teach that violence is his way of solving problems? And if not, what do I do in situations where violence seems to be the 'only answer'? How does one follow Christ's admonishment to 'love your enemy' but still hold that I could shoot them in the face? What about 'Just War'? What about WWII? What about the civil war? - violence that seems to have successfully solved very terrible problems? So, today I will offer up a few verses to choose from that deal with the issue of violence and ememi

New name, a few new colors and hopefully more posts this year! This year on the blog, I hope you will find: - Deep thoughts about living unabashedly as a red-letter, incarnational , evangelical, post-protestant/liberal/conservative, mystical, biblical, charismatic/contemplative, methodist, vineyardite, environmentally conscious, animal-loving, frustrated-yet-hopeful, unfinished Christian (Thanks to Brian McLaren for the original post that inspired that title). -Book reviews for the Speakeasy blogging network -Linkage to all things LightByGrace Photography (that’s me!) and my friends in the Greater Cincinnati Fellowship of The Lens.  -Great discussions. If there is anything else all of you, my (perhaps two?) faithful readers, would like to see here, please let me know!