My heart thumped in my chest as the current in the river picked up speed and the water roiled about me. I knew that I was approaching one of the largest rapids I had ever navigated as the river began to funnel itself into a narrow chute ahead. I had spent the previous day paddling […]
The Journey of Recovery
Editor’s Note: The Journey of Recovery was birthed out of God’s call to Kris Jensen to create a program applying Journey principles to the process of addiction recovery. Kris first reached out to David Zailer, who had already been leading people in recovery for 18 years. Several years later, Gary Jones and Brian Steenhoek also […]
Chained to the Weight of Sin
Author’s note: the following experience took place several years ago as I was going through The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. As I wrestled in the First Week with my theology around sin, God used a unique image to transform my thinking. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and […]
A Promise in the Desert
The photo awes me. It is stunningly beautiful, the shadows, the softness of the angles, the vastness of the sand dunes. I am pulled in by the lone figure walking, his footsteps behind him with a long journey ahead of him. I feel a touch of sadness because he is alone, and overwhelmed because there […]
The Gift of Presence
“Do you believe that God is with you, right now while the lightning crashes overhead and the creek rises below?” The two college students I addressed had been leading all through the long hard day, and they glanced around them, their eyes wildly looking for some sense of safety and security. We had evacuated an […]
Disorientation to Reorientation
A month ago I wrote a blog post on the power of lament. I described my personal process of lament as I struggled to come to terms with the radical changes our world is going through. I discovered how important it was for me to allow myself to feel and be with, the roller coaster […]
Leaving Normal
I howled at the moon last night. Seriously. My wife, my daughter and I stood on our patio, cupped our hands to our mouths, and howled like wild wolves at the moon. Soon, we heard the repeating reply from our neighbors also getting in touch with their inner wolves. It was a silly idea someone […]
