“Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different.” ~ C.S. Lewis I first learned about the...

In the winter you could see one of our neighbors, or rather you could see their house. It was visible once the leaves had fallen off

A long time ago, words were spoken over me that have stayed with me throughout my life. I doubt she would remember me and I can't even...

When I was a girl growing up in Houston- flat, hot, and humid for those of you who have never been- my family had a tendency to pile in the

By night Nicodemus came to a teacher he knew was from God. Jesus told him of earthly things that were not visible, but were happening...

I just finished reading what surely will be the best book I read in 2021, unless I manage to read the entire Bible or the Oxford English...

I don’t consider myself a poet. Occasionally a songwriter, but barely that. The occasion of this poem was the commissioning of a new church.

Our general attitude towards the internet these days reminds me of that impactful decision made way back in the garden.

In 2015 the World Economic Forum conducted a “Survey on the Global Agenda.” A startling eighty-six percent of respondents agreed there...

My friend Emily and I sat across from each other at a nearby breakfast place one morning during the spring of 2018, and I described to...

On a lovely spring morning, my home overflowed with my mom, aunts, and nieces. I rose early to shower and have some time to myself. I...

Some time ago, we featured an interview with Knoxville songwriter, rapper, and preacher Phillip Joubert. This past year, Phillip joined...

I always felt there was something different about me. Like many families, mine experienced its share of dysfunction, but even as a young...

On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson put on a plain business suit and took a short walk from a boarding house just south of Washington City

I was reading Philippians 2 today, and I came to the verse I have underlined and scolded myself with many, many times:

Advent is an ancient tradition that both ministers to our hearts and equips us for the fight against racism.

Sometimes I think my creative life would be easier if I’d wanted to be a painter or a musician when I was younger. Perhaps my parents...

Journalists write about touch deprivation, lack of socialization and other trends ... Is anyone asking what happens when we can’t sing?

Most women hire birth doulas because they have a bright vision and they know they’ll be going into a dark place, where they’ll need...

Arthur Alligood is both my friend and a hero of mine. Watching friends press through the vicissitudes of the artistic process—and...

Up in the wilds of the American Northwest, there is a quiet lake called Baum. It is brimmed with limber reeds, creaky trees, and a few...

When my daughter was a little girl she idolized me, which secretly made my heart soar. Well, maybe it wasn’t such a secret, but I tried...

She spent the days at home with her small children. Some days were simply delightful. She played with them, read to them, and cuddled...

Lying in the emerald hammock beneath the mossy-barked elm, my attention wanders from my book to the tree above and climbs it, up past the to

"How can you sing songs to a God you don’t know if you believe in anymore, let alone love?”

Jeanine Joyner became a Foundling House editor in January of 2020, after releasing her first novel, Paper Dolls: Trust Your Instincts.

Does wielding words like weapons change hearts? In the face of so much grief,confusion, fear, and pride, what use are all these words?

Author's note: I’m so excited to bring you my conversation with my friend Phillip Joubert. Phillip is a rapper out of New York and...

I've always seen myself as this heady, angsty, funny, important powerhouse of a performer, who writes for super-smart audiences of adults...

When I was twelve, my family moved from the only home I knew, and one of the songs my parents played on repeat during that time was Ron ...

It’s a hell of a thing to rip up your flooring to find a sizable joist cracked right in half. Late in the COVID-19 quarantine, my wife...

As the morning light flooded through my bedroom window, I realized today would have been my grandfather’s ninety-first birthday. Though...

As I watched my dad walk into the gas station, I rolled the window down to enjoy the sunlight. I was basking in the rays of the summer...

If you’re going to take a walk, you might as well walk the fence,” he said. “And I know it’ll be down, so better take clips and a...

2020 started off so promising.  Our son had a meltdown-free 1st birthday party, the Titans kept Tom Brady and the Patriots from another ...

It’s spring, and that means periodically coming across empty bird shell fragments as we walk our property looking at the world coming...

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”...

“Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by...

My wife and I communicate quite differently. Last night she spoke to a group of girls. She distributed paper hearts and instructed them...

Hope. Determination. Plan. Persistence. Those are the words we keep hearing this Lenten season, and no wonder given our current...

For years now, Jennifer Daniels has been performing her Southern-gothic brand of roots rock, captivating audiences and plumbing the...

I have called myself a planner for most of my adult life. I was an elementary school teacher for eleven years. My whole job depended upon...

Photo by Kandra Benton. Used with permission. Nothing defines my life more clearly than being the mother of a child with profound medical...

Image by skeeze from Pixabay I walked out of school. It was raining. I was walking with one of the girls from my class. I knew my mother...

Photo by Nur Andi Ravsanjani Gusma from Pexels My grandmother was one of the biggest influences in my life. My favorite memories are what...

Photo by Matthis Volquardsen from Pexels I rented a cabin in the southern foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains last May. Having survived...

Jeanine Joyner In 2015, when this journal was born, several of us who were meeting to critique and support each other’s creative efforts...

How the Mark Heard Tribute Album Changed Music For Me There are two songwriting giants in the Christian music world. I mean, sure, we’ve...

Mopping the floors, baking the bread. Changing the diapers, making the bed. Cleaning toilets, these things we dread. We are told in...

Stranger Things on Netflix We were finally watching Stranger Things as a family, my teen daughter having finally sold her...