Special thanks to my friend Hannah, who embroidered this for me earlier this year! It may not be for you, but sitting here, realizing that my existence right now revolves around reading, writing, and reflecting, is preeeeetttyyyyyyyy great. (Things I'm not talking about: the crash-out I had trying to figure out what a history paper even IS, and the blank, soulless stare I had after reading an article about original sin.) wowowowowowowowowowowow I live here? However, somewhere

HELLO FROM PRINCETON! This is officially the first blog post being written to you from Princeton, New Jersey! Thank you so much to everyone who has reached out to me over the past two weeks to check in, say hi, and wish me the best. It has meant a lot! The answer to the question I know all of you are asking is: I'm doing ok. Parts of this move have been completely exhausting. Let it be restated: moving is not for the faint of heart! There have been many activities (orientatio

A short reflection on being a week out from moving to Princeton

Hi friends, I must confess…I often forget I have this these days. But I have been reminded and when I went in to check on the status of things, I found my 30 by 30 list (I’ve moved the list to this post from the page). This was a list of things I created when … Continue reading 30 by 30 (a recap a year and a half late)

Have you ever noticed yourself starting to feel at home before you actually make it home? Somewhere between all of our comings and goings, the trees and little idiosyncrasies about our neighbourhoods become familiar. So familiar that you don’t even think about it until you move or find yourself in an unfamiliar part of the … Continue reading Coming Home (an argument for the liturgical calendar)

Talking about what it’s like to come out of depression feels…harder in a way than talking about depression does. Let me explain. When you are depressed, you can just say that you’re not ok. We’ve sort of come to a place as a society to accept those sorts of statements, and we know what to … Continue reading Thoughts on Depression (hello, I am back)

It is 1am and I cannot sleep. I don’t know if that’s a sentiment you can share – I’ve definitely been up this late on purpose before. But tonight I did not want to stay up until 1am. Far from it – in fact I’m hoping to wake up at 5am… Tonight I can’t sleep … Continue reading Ordinary Worship

WordPress nicely reminded me that I started this blog 7 years ago. Well, May 31 2012 was my first post – so a little over 7 years ago. When I started blogging, I had no information on here that identified me aside from the blog name – and only a few people in the world … Continue reading Good Bones

How many times have you heard someone say we live in a culture of busyness? It sounds so good to hear. And we all nod in agreement saying, “You betcha! We sure do!” And if it’s in a Sunday morning message, it’s usually followed by a well thought out sermon or statement that encourages us … Continue reading The Habit of Busyness

If you’re new-ish around here, you can check out my original post on “living redeemed” from 2016 here, and my follow up post from 2017 here. Anyway…onto my *new* thoughts about living redeemed. In my previous posts I tended to emphasize more on the living part — going out and doing things, making actions while … Continue reading Living Redeemed pt III

Generally speaking, I have a really hard time holding a grudge. I mean this in that I can’t seem to harbour negative feelings towards someone for very long. I’ve definitely tried, but I always find myself back in a neutral emotional space after a little it. Sometimes it isn’t even much more than a minute. … Continue reading Forgiveness

If you’re familiar with retail, you will likely have heard about the golden quarter. If you haven’t heard of it, it is the 4th fiscal-quarter of the year (October – December) and it is “golden” because you’ve got some pretty major holidays in there which means big dollars for pretty much anyone who sells anything … Continue reading The Newness

I am one of those people who basically spends the equivalent of a part time job doing church stuff – either attending, getting ready for things, doing admin work, meetings, other events, or whatever else that week has. I’m also one of those people who grew up seeing their parents do the same thing – … Continue reading On Church

The other day, while catching up, my friend asked me what my highlights were over the last 3 months. I had to clarify if he meant good things or just what stuck out because honestly looking back the first thing that comes to my mind is the large number of times I cried/sobbed in my … Continue reading The Unravelling

I messed up in my last post, or, as a friend in university would have said, I done goofed. The post itself is just fine – I’m not editing it or removing it, but I am reflecting on where I was when I wrote it and how I feel now – 5 months later. Since … Continue reading Strength

I so often find myself sinking into what I like to call the “now what” trap. I sit down and think about my life (what’s happened, where I’m at now, etc.) and then I turn around to God and say “ok buddy (we’re tight) – I see all this stuff we’ve done but….now what are … Continue reading In the Midst of it All

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not a mover and a shaker. I am definitely not the person in a group who gets everyone else jazzed about what we’re going to do, I’m not the person who has the great ideas, and I don’t always see where we want to go. I like repetition and comfort, … Continue reading Where you stay I’ll stay

Easter is probably my favourite holiday. There are other holidays pretty high on my list – Christmas is an amazing season of family and joy, July 1/4 is warm and full of barbecues and fireworks, and Thanksgiving is when I get to eat most of my favourite foods in one meal and then take a nap. But … Continue reading Romeo & Juliet & Me

If you know me, you probably know that I work shifts. If you know me well, you know that while I like the freedom this gives me to serve in certain ways and see different people. If you talk with me about it for longer than 5 minutes, though, you also probably know that I … Continue reading On Hope

I am a creature of comfort. I love cozying up to a coffee, a fuzzy blanket, and a good book. I enjoy doing the things I like. I like feeling safe and loved. I prefer to do the things I am good at (or at least think I’m good at) instead of the things I’m … Continue reading Uncomforting Comfort