Day 3: Wandering into Surprise

April 30, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

I had barely mixed the pancake batter before my three year old had launched into her morning ritual. Indifferent to breakfast, and blonde, wispy hair still looking like a homeschool experiment in static electricity, she pointed at the back door and tugged at my hand…

Day 2: Finding Courage as We Wander

April 29, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

My grandmother could have a fearful spirit. At the same time she was taking me for walks in the woods and keeping my early wanderlust satiated with pricey subscriptions to National Geographic magazine, she was sticking newspaper clippings about murders and kidnappings beneath our State Farm refrigerator magnets.

Wander on Purpose–A Collaborative Film Project

April 9, 2017.Reading time 4 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep UPDATE: Episodes 1-4! Episode 1: Healthy Habits Episode 2: Joy, Anxiety, Trust, Hurt Episode 3: Surprises, Purpose, Worthlessness Episode 4: Meaning and the Mundane Day 1: Finding Healthy Habits Day 2: Finding Courage, Giving Up Fear Day 3: Wandering into Surprise Day 4: Leaving Anger Along the Path Day 5: Dropping […]

Taking the Warrior Bus to the Mount

February 21, 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

About 10 high school students disembark from their “Warriors” mini-bus, like they’re stepping onto a questionably constructed swing bridge over a gaping chasm.

Do I look this unsure when I enter unchartered territory?

I can almost guarantee a deer-in-the-headlights expression when I step out in my faith, into unfamiliar spiritual terrain that demands something more of me, that stretches my trust muscles.

We, Like Sheep: On being shepherded into the new year

January 2, 2017.Reading time 4 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep As I travel the roads through the Scottish countryside, acres of pastureland carpet the space between my rental car and the horizon. Sheep meander across the green like earthbound clouds, and the setting sun turns their fleece golden. But I see no shepherd in this idyllic still life that has hung in […]

Of Warp and Weft…and being Deeply Rooted

November 10, 2016.Reading time 4 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep A few days ago, I joined about 100 other women at Wilson Abbey in Chicago for Deeply Rooted: A Gathering. My 20-year-old daughter was with me, and aside from a few friends, I didn’t know anyone. I didn’t know their credentials, their triumphs, or their sins. I didn’t know if they were longtime […]

Mother’s Day with all the vowels

May 8, 2016.Reading time 3 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep Sometimes on a day you could and should sleep in, you wake up at 4 a.m. instead, because, well, that cup of peach tea at 8:30 p.m. …and that thing or 10 on your mind that you need to pray about. So you wake up God, too, who like a patient […]

Who died and made you King of the Jews?

March 25, 2016.Reading time 6 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep “That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.” Luke 23:12 Did you ever notice this verse in the crucifixion story? It hit me like a Roman brick this morning. We can pretty easily recall the scene in the Good Friday story where Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilate […]

What happened to the Year of Living Courageously?

March 10, 2016.Reading time 4 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep Feeding chemotherapy meds to your three-year-old, knowing it may not make a difference, takes courage. Honestly talking out that painful subject that sticks like a burr up under your heart takes some courage. So does running into a burning building, walking into divorce court, preaching the gospel to cannibals. Fill in the ________. […]

Sinking your fists into the bread of life

February 12, 2016.Reading time 4 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep The man’s tattooed arms were up to the elbows in bread dough. I could so relate. Not to the guy’s past, to his former gang life in Los Angeles, but to that feeling of fists sinking into soft dough and spirit reposing on a whiff of yeast. He is one of the […]