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March is my favorite month to be a college sports fan. The college campus is my place of work and ministry. I love college students.

Their droopy eyes told me we were in for a long and listless afternoon. I was studying the Gospel of Mark with a group of fifteen college students at Campus by the Sea.

Ash Wednesday is the most honest day of the year. Honesty is what kick-starts the cycle of grace. When the process is working well, it’s almost instantaneous.

You can hear from God. I bet no one’s ever sat you down and explicitly (and bravely) said that out loud, to your face, because no one wants to look bad if you take a risk to listen for God’s voice and then don’t hear anything. 

Mary’s song in Luke 1, traditionally called the “Magnificat,” is, for me, one of the most astonishing and challenging passages in the Bible.  

In this month of Advent, our thoughts usually turn to Jesus and Mary. Yet lately I’ve found that I’m more drawn to Elizabeth. Perhaps it’s because I’m older. Or maybe it’s because I know what it’s like to yearn for something and then to see days, months, years pass without having that yearning fulfilled.

I moved to Madison, Wisconsin, from the western Chicago suburbs six weeks ago based on a strong sense of God’s leading. I didn’t get an angel or nine months of planning like Mary did—both of which would have been nice.

Have you ever had God answer a prayer you prayed for a long time? Have you ever had God answer a prayer in a surprising way?

First off, I’m a Christian. I’ve been reading the Bible since I was a kid. I’ve been trying to follow Jesus for almost 20 years. I think the Bible is the best explanation for my experience around the world, for how humans are and how to address that. We’ve recently written a book full of stories of how we’ve tried to follow Jesus overseas and now back in the U.S.

When you write a letter to someone, what is the last thing you say? Sometimes, we save the most important pieces of information for last: the best thing that has been going on lately, that ‘big news’, or the most critical thing that you want your reader to remember.