As the hostile social butterfly (moth?) I am, I’m part of a few antisocial mom groups on Facebook. Recently, one of the posted games in my favorite group suggested that we should each pick our celebrity name by combining our favorite salad dressing with the thing about us that has most disappointed our parents. So, hello, friends – my name is Honey Mustard Divorce. I was raised Mormon, and growing up my mom told me fairly regularly that divorce was never an option. “Murder, o

What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? from Micah 6:8 For me, this simple quote from the minor prophet Micah sums up what it means to live a spiritual life. Today, with all of the strife and friction which lie at the intersection of faith and politics, many are choosing to abdicate the political space and pretend that “religion and politics don’t mix”. Even today, as we form this new spiritual communi

EXT ISRAELI/EGYPTIAN BORDER CROSSING - AROUND 4 BCE A MAN and WOMAN riding a donkey approach a border crossing manned by two GUARDS. One GUARD bars the way, while the other moves to question the MAN. FIRST GUARD : Passports, please! MAN: I’m sorry, but we don’t have passports. We are fleeing persecution. Please let us in! SECOND GUARD: OK, Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to step off of the donkey, and both of you keep your hands where we can see them. WOMAN: But I’m

Nowhere have I recently seen people experiencing heaven on earth right here, right now, more eloquently demonstrated than I did last Saturday night at the Pride parade held right here in Birmingham. It was an amazing demonstration of our love for one another in action, and it gives me great hope for our city and our nation moving forward. This was my first Pride parade, and I honestly had no idea what to expect. I had a feeling there would be many people dressed in bright c

“I’m so scared kaitlin,” 17-year-old Hannah Carbocci texted her older sister from her place crouched inside her Holocaust history class at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. “Tell them [our parents] I love them so much.” “I know hannah,” Kaitlin, 19, responded. “You’re gonna be fine.” “I’m so scared,” Hannah texted again. Facing death, aware that at least one of her classmates had already been shot, and listening to the sound of gunfire down the hall,

One of the positive by-products of time in the National Guard or Reserves is that we learn to appreciate things that are often taken for granted. Sometimes it’s the simple things, like hot, running water, or just having a toilet; other times it’s a bed to sleep on, out of the rain and mosquitoes. Or maybe it’s a lunch that didn’t come out of a plastic pouch that was sealed up during a Bush administration. But mostly, it’s the people. As I prepare to mobilize for a 400 day