by jo | Jan 7, 2015 | Everyday Stories, Myths & Cliches
“We need to talk,” she said to me in a serious yet conspiring tone. We walked with rushing feet to our personal conference room — the Children’s Church room at the back of the church where we’d hang out before church. We were two rambunctious 8-year-old girls who got...
by jo | Dec 30, 2014 | Everyday Stories
“How are you?” he asked me, having come up to me in church and hugged me. “I’m OK,” I said, though eyes rimmed in tear-smeared mascara-clad eyelashes. I smiled. Then the tears started again softly. Unexpected kindness brings them out. Well, it’s one of the...
by jo | Dec 23, 2014 | Everyday Stories, Jesus Time, Travel
If I’m honest — which I am — homesickness is the cause of my current wandering-life phase. I’ve been saying that I’m searching for a place that feels like home. I didn’t know of any that still existed for me until one night not too...
by jo | Dec 16, 2014 | Everyday Stories, Jesus Time
I was sitting in a new church, in a new city, feeling very unknown again for the umpteenth time. It was my first time to the church, and while it felt warm and welcoming, I still felt new, knowing not a single person there. It was the end of actually a really...
by jo | Dec 9, 2014 | Everyday Stories, Travel
photo credit: [phil h] via photopin cc “Don’t tell them that you’ll keep in touch,” she said to us. “Because you won’t.” One of the school administration was talking to the group of 5 of us from the US who were brand new to the school and were there for the semester...
by jo | Nov 25, 2014 | Everyday Stories
It’s odd, because this is now the end of November, and for a month that is usually saturated in social media posts about thankfulness, I actually have only seen 2 posts of the sort this month. The month has flown by for me, and without being intentional to...