Feb 23, 2026 | Homepage Highlights, Staff Blog
Gowan Pamphlet (c.a. 1748 – c.a. 1809) reflection by Kale Anderson Imagine sneaking out of the house under the cover of night, sneaking through your neighborhood, out into the woods. If you are caught, you could be beaten. You go anyway because you want to...
Feb 16, 2026 | Homepage Highlights, Staff Blog
Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879-1961) a reflection by Sharon Downs Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879–1961) was a pioneering educator, orator, and civil rights activist who created systems to lift Black women to heights she herself was initially denied. A fierce advocate for...
Dec 19, 2025 | Homepage Highlights
“The desert will rejoice and flowers bloom in the wastelands.” (Is. 35:1) I haven’t observed a “super bloom” in Death Valley, but I’ve seen the photos of a desert floor covered in wildflowers. It occurs when the clouds deliver rain beyond desert expectations. The...
Dec 18, 2025 | Homepage Highlights
Reflecting on Joy in the Midst of Waiting Isaiah paints an unforgettable picture of joy bursting forth in the desert — barren places bloom, the blind regain sight, the lame leap with joy, and silence breaks into songs of praise. This vision isn’t just poetic hope; it...
Dec 17, 2025 | Homepage Highlights
Joy sometimes comes not in the form of happiness, as I believed for so long, but out of hardship. In Isaiah 35, Isaiah writes: “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it...
Dec 16, 2025 | Homepage Highlights
I’ve long had an uneasy relationship with joy. For years, I called myself melancholy— until depression gave that feeling a clinical name. Whatever I called it, joy always seemed to demand energy I didn’t have and enthusiasm I couldn’t muster. Joy...
