Fluently Sassy

One of the best things about being children of God is that we actively get to participate in His story. We are not puppets He uses to accomplish His will, but instead we have the choice  to stand up with God and walk out the story He has called us to. Similarly, He doesn't NEED  us to accomplish His will, but chooses us to be His hands and feet on this earth. I also love that God's story is not always an easy one. Being a Christian is not a life where the Holy Spirit swoops in and fixes every one of our problems on demand, but rather a journey that we struggle with a nd cry through--a journey which often calls us to put on our big boy pants and make the move God is calling us to, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable it may be. In Exodus (yup, still there), we get a picture of this clearly laid out for us as the Israelites are wandering through the desert fresh out of Pharaoh's enslavement. Pharaoh has just realized the "grave" mistake he has made by letting

I love God's word for a lot of reasons (DUH), but one of the top reasons is that every time we read it something new can be revealed depending on what we are going through, what is on our hearts, or what God has chosen to show us. I love that God's word (an ancient text) is constantly relevant to our lives. I was reading in Exodus the other day and something jumped right out at me. Maybe because I had been going through a tough time and was yearning for true friendship, or maybe because it was something that God needed me to see. Whatever the reason may be, it's the coolest thing that God chose to reveal our need for true, deep, reliant friendship in our life through a mini snapshot during the bloody desperation of war.  It's as if God is freezing the frame, coming into the camera shot, and saying, "Do you see this? Do you see how you can't do this alone?" In these verses, Israel is fighting their first war against the warriors of Amalek just after th

Proactively creating well-rounded students not standardized test machines. Amidst another school shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck Highschool, my heart is in agony. I feel it aching in my chest as I process why these shootings continue to occur. It truly hits home as I will soon be spending thousands of hours inside a school building and have experienced a shooting at my own school, Seattle Pacific University. I get lost in all of the details, but each time a shooting happens it grows more and more astonishing. I can't help but ask the question  why?  Of course, the over-arching explanation is that the shooters are mentally ill, or have unstable homes. Some people will point to violent video games and television shows. Others will point to the decrease of religion in our schools or easy access to guns. But, the questions still remain. Why do students feel so unheard and so unloved that they choose to bring a gun to school in order to hurt their fellow classmates?   W