The events of this summer have moved me to my core. So I did what I do, I reached for my pen. Here’s an excerpt from my new book collaboration A Collective Breath. Dear White Christians, I love you, and God loves you; but He needs you to understand some things. I need you to understand some things: 1. It is not (insert the name of a Black person you know)’s responsibility to educate you on the history of [...]
If you're like me, you realize that there are things in life that are beyond our control. Just a few weeks ago I arrived back home just in time to partner with my husband on our annual Team Malcolm fundraiser in our son’s memory. I had a whirlwind trip to lead a workshop in Anchorage, Alaska, connecting through Seattle to Portland, Oregon to deliver a keynote on resilience. Every word I spoke was from my personal experience and research on [...]
If you ask a room full of kids, what happens when we assume? They’ll all giggle and say "you make an ASS out of U and ME". That joke never gets old. But it’s really more than a joke, it’s a life principle! Recently, my youngest son got a job; this is a major milestone and one we were eager to support. Because he was saving up to get a car, he had to rely on us for transportation. [...]
When I was in college, I worked at a pet store in the mall, and I fell in love with a cute little chameleon. I wore my hair in a bun on top of my head at the time, and I would place him on my bun and he'd hold on while I walked around the store greeting customers (talk about your conversation starter). I got a kick out of placing him near my brown apron and watching him change [...]
When my boys were young, they loved to climb up and down each other...isn't that just like boys? If they weren't climbing, they were balancing or just rolling on the floor. With four of them, there was no shortage of playmates, and my husband and I enjoyed countless hours of watching (and participating in) their playfulness. It created a bond that could never be broken. On January 11, 2014, that bond was tested. After 3 battles with cancer in 3 [...]
Growing up, my aunt would ask my cousins and me "Are you part of the problem, or are you part of the solution?" Have you ever been asked this question? Even as a child, I knew that if the answer to this wasn't "SOLUTION", then I was in trouble. We all knew what was next: the statement of the problem and how WE could solve it. This method of questioning was a long-standing family secret (and my aunt will tell [...]
We’ve learned that effective communication should come from the heart, and I wholeheartedly believe that (no pun intended). When trying to motivate, inspire or even just relay a simple message, speaking with compassion is usually the best way to go. I still remember how profound it was when I heard a conference speaker say that our EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient) is just as important as our IQ (Intelligence Quotient), and some thought leaders say it’s even more important. It wasn’t [...]
I had several errands to run today, but one of the most important of them was to buy another basketball goal for our backyard. Yes, we have active boys (down to only 2 since our eldest 2 are “grown”) and they will both die if they can’t play. Nevermind that it’s 100 degrees outside (we live in Houston). But the reality is, I’m replacing the goal because our backyard basketball court is where we do ministry. Youth ministry, marriage ministry, [...]
