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Recently, I had young woman approach me after a speaking engagement and ask with admiring eyes, “How do you do it all?” When I prodded more, I learned what all meant: she liked the things I taught about, she thought it was wonderful that I have two young children, and she hoped to have a … Read More

Work and worship can feel miles apart. Work happens in “the real world,” a place for hard-charging drivenness and cutthroat competiveness. Work is where you expend tons of energy in the attempt to get ahead or, at least, to impress your boss and keep your job. Worship, on the contrary, is where you receive, a … Read More

James 2:8-9, “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.” Centuries ago there were two particular travelers on a dangerous road. Seeing a person needing help, there was the … Read More

Proverbs 25:11 “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” The question that underlies my work is one Max De Pree presented to his executive committee: What would grace enable the organization to become? It seems like an odd question in a capitalist system. I claim it is absolutely … Read More

Romans 15:7, “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” What would it be like if you’d never been welcomed by anyone?  I imagine it’s like being seized and bound by great sorrow. Joseph Merrick knew what it’s like. Born in England in 1862, Merrick became known in … Read More

Winter in wine country can be confusing.  It’s cold and rainy.  The vines are cut back and look like dead sticks.  But, in the midst of this, millions of bright yellow flowers that sway on tender bushes carpet the spaces between the dormant vines.  It’s mesmerizing to contemplate the paradox.  As a cover crop, the … Read More

What would it take for you 
to rush unarmed towards a mob of angry men who only mean you harm? The situation sounds absurd, but this is the plight Abigail finds herself in in 1 Samuel 25. Minding her own business
 and going about the usual tasks
 of her day, she is informed by 
a … Read More

How will the Church in the 21st century “equip the saints for works of service” (Eph. 4:12) for the vast challenges we face in the world today? This seems overwhelming at first blush. But then I remember that God’s people are touching every area of our cities through their daily work, and it’s the Church’s … Read More

In some quarters of the church, the “Proverbs 31 Woman” is, well, proverbial. She is famous—others would say infamous. In a small Midwestern town, young men might boast that they are seeking to marry a “Proverbs 31 Woman.” And why not? The description of “the capable wife” in Proverbs 31 begins by noting that she … Read More

Out of the tribe of Benjamin, forcefully living under the empire of Babylon, there was a certain young woman. She was not your average person. She could have been written off as a statistic with low chances of success. She was an ethnic minority, an orphan, and a female in a male-dominant society. Her name … Read More

When I think of Lydia in Acts 16:6-15, I often picture her as a hard-working Nicaraguan woman. Driving with my parents through the Nicaraguan countryside as a little girl, I would often take in the sights and sounds of my tropical country out my window. A typical vignette that captured my attention was the sweat … Read More

I have a weird super power. I don’t like it, but I sometimes disappear. It’s not like a magic trick with stage lights and misdirection of the eye. It happens in the most casual and usual circumstances. I remember when I was in film school in college during my sophomore year, and it was finally … Read More

Ivy League graduate, poet, educator, socially conscious. Rapper, activist, Chinese American. In the popular imagination, many of these identities might not fit together—and yet, meet Jason Chu. He identifies himself as a Chinese American rapper with a mission statement to “bring hope and healing to a broken world.” Jason embodies all of this through his … Read More

Born with cerebral palsy, I am a disabled woman with serious shame about my inability to work and be a productive member of society. This personal shame has often led me to question my value in the eyes of God. Am I only valuable to the kingdom of God because of the work I can … Read More

I remember when I made my first batch of lotion. My hands made their own creative sound. I was excited and amazed at myself and my creativity. It was at that moment that I experienced a unique inner power for the first time. Not a superhero kind of power but a power that went beyond … Read More

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” – John 15:1-2 This time of year, in wine country, the vines stand naked and exposed … Read More

“I have all this wisdom, knowledge, and skill—but I can’t use it.” This was the first thing Louis Jones said to me when we sat down to “officially” talk about the intersection of disability and work. Truthfully though, this topic comes up in one way or another in pretty much every conversation we have. Louis … Read More

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and … Read More

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. – Matthew 11:28 The winter rains have begun, and the grapevines have dropped their leaves. Only a few yellow, orange, and red stragglers remain, catching the watery afternoon sun, like tiny stained-glass windows. All the work for the season … Read More

Mothers know what sacrifice means. No one else in 
this world is asked to give of themselves more wholly to another person than a mother. She gives her body, time, autonomy, attention, food, energy, and life to this little baby being. And after a few short years, she is asked to let go of the … Read More

Advent is the Christian season in which we wait expectantly for the Lord. While the weeks leading up to Christmas can be busy and loud, remembering Advent encourages us to be still and wait on God. This is the first of four posts on Advent, each focusing on one of the season’s four traditional themes … Read More

Ephesians 5:20 reveals that, once filled with the Spirit, we should be “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This verse sparks several questions: 1) How can we give thanks “always”? That seems impossible. 2) Should we really thank God for “everything”? Really? 3) Does … Read More

I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener… Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. – John 15:1, 4 On my drive through Sebastopol, the vineyards on … Read More

June 2016: I sat in my cap and gown, sweating, with my teeth clenched. I was about to walk across the stage and receive my degree in business. I was incredibly hopeful, and my creative mind was running with all of the possibilities of the future. I was sitting in one of the most significant … Read More

This article is an introductory piece to a new regular series called “Rhythms of Work.” There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot… a time to weep and a … Read More

When I graduated with my doctorate, I did so alongside eight men. As part of the ceremony, each person stood up and gave a short speech. Nearly every man expressed heartfelt gratitude through tears to his family for the time they sacrificed with him in the doctoral process. But when it was my turn to … Read More

Many Christians believe that only a few special Christians have callings. Ordained pastors, priests, and ministers have callings. So do missionaries. And perhaps people in obvious helping professions have callings, folks like doctors and nurses, perhaps teachers and youth workers. But most Christians, it seems, are just ordinary folk, people without a calling. Scripture tells … Read More

Recently, I had two separate conversations with friends who were in career crises. Each crisis was catalyzed by a sense of disillusionment with work—the feeling that the world had promised them something and was failing to make good on that promise. One friend, in her mid thirties, is in the midst of a corporate career … Read More

(Excerpted from “Making Spiritual Sense of Money”) If the first step toward making spiritual meaning about money is to provide a language for being honest with God and with each other about the financial pressures each of us feels, the second step is to make some sense of work. Most adults spend their days working. … Read More

Leadership begins with listening.  But our fears take us the other way. They tell us that leadership is about having something to say, about having followers, about having control.  But our fears lie. Leadership begins with listening. Leadership begins with listening – listening to God.  The Christian life begins when we listen to the generous … Read More

I had the good fortune to work for a CEO who was an incredible leader. I count myself privileged to have worked for such an exceptional person. He had a vision for the direction of our organization and took timely, tangible steps to achieve that vision. My CEO understood the value of a strategic plan, … Read More

Max De Pree has been a defining mentor in my life. I first became aware of Max when I was a young administrator and he was Chairman of the Board at the institution where I worked. As I assumed leadership responsibilities, I was vulnerably aware of my lack of preparation. So I applied for a Kellogg … Read More

In the year 2000 the richest 10% of the world’s population owned 85% of global assets.* Today, more than one billion people live on less than $1 a day.* When I first heard these numbers, I felt compelled to do something. I felt that for-profit companies should share responsibility for changing these realities. During 2011, … Read More

If all work is indeed God’s work, then it is a deep grace that even the work we do out of a place of pain, or insecurity, or constraint, is still work that he can use and redeem for good purposes. Learning to see the value in limitation and constraint has been especially helpful to … Read More

Vocation is a wonderfully broad and encompassing word. In contrast to how we normally think about calling, as something having to do with our career or professional work, instead I find tremendous grace and reassurance in the more biblical understanding of vocation that helps us see all work as God’s work. Etymologically, vocation comes from … Read More

Originally written on September 17, 2013. It is hard to find a well articulated theology of work – especially work involving entrepreneurial and other commercial vocations. Shortly before his death in 2008, Catholic scholar William J. Toth wrote an extraordinary theological examination [1] of the entrepreneurial vocation that addresses this shortcoming. Toth uses Catholic social … Read More