IBC Blog

Formed

Broken Body Theology

I never thought much about my body until recently. It mostly did what it was supposed to do and looked how it was supposed to look, and so I haven’t had to pay it too much mind. Athletics weren’t my thing, which means my body’s physical abilities were never in the spotlight. I’ve of course fussed and fretted over my appearance like we all have, but mostly my body cooperated and came along for the ride.

More recently, though, my body insists on being noticed. I’ve had two babies (both of whom made themselves comfortable in my belly for much longer than they were welcome), I’m creeping closer to middle age, and my body doesn’t look or feel the way it always has. Things hurt. Some days, things hurt an annoying amount.

Formed

The Thrill of Hope & Power of Prayer

Has there been a time in your life that God and His hope felt so far from your reach? He’s always near, but we don’t always feel it, do we? I was in constant pain starting in the 5th grade. It was not supposed to be that way. It was great pain, and when it wasn’t, it was a constant dull pain, never far from coming back with a vengeance. I had scoliosis and as I was growing rapidly, the curve in my spine was following suit. The doctor put me in a back brace to wear 23 hours a day… for my 6th and 7th grade year. As if junior high was not awkward enough! I did, however, get a waterbed out of the deal which delighted me to no end. (Hello, 1990s. Do they even make those anymore?!)

Unfortunately, the brace didn’t keep my curve from getting worse like they hoped. By 8th grade, at 13 years old, I needed major back surgery to fuse titanium rods and hooks to my spine to straighten me out. The final straw was that my ribcage was turning, which could puncture a lung, which could kill me. Kill me? Hard to hear as a 13-year-old.

Formed

A Thoughtful Spot to Rest

“This looks like a thoughtful spot to rest,” said Pooh. Winnie the Pooh knew Christopher Robin would come for a visit, so he sat at the edge of the meadow on the log beneath the tree to wait and rest.

These are trying days in all the ways that days can be trying. Are you at rest like Pooh, knowing in your knower that our strong and faithful God is watching over us?

Some days, I can answer positively, but if I’m honest, some days my thoughts are more like Tigger. I’m bouncing, trouncing, flouncing, and pouncing from here to there and back, lost in the fog of the emotions that so easily come…the thoughts and wonderings of the unknowns…is that a Heffalump?

Formed

So Loved

Lovers always want to measure love. Have you noticed? In one of the world’s most famous poems about love, Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

Formed

Agreements and Vows

Lately I’ve been reading through John Eldredge’s Restoration Year devotional. I had saved it for a whole year and a half. I did want to get through my other morning readings first before I started this one. But it was almost as if I sensed I wasn’t ready for restoration. Or maybe I was thinking it might be too much work. But as I’ve gone through each day, I’ve realized I started it in just the right year.

This year has required us to sequester in our homes due to Covid-19. It’s given me time to reflect, to pray deeply, to journal more. Of course, I have to choose that over binge-watching Little Fires Everywhere, or Dead to Me. But when I have made the choice,

Formed

The Hunter & The Beast

Our safari was a dream-come-true-ending to our time in South Sudan. I was directing a short documentary for Water is Basic about a twelve-year-old girl, Jina, who walked six miles a day to collect enough water to keep her family alive. After two intense weeks of shooting footage with my small team in a remote Sudanese village, we were ready for an adventure. Every day we took in nature’s masterpiece. Breakfast on the plains in the cool of the morning as migrating herds passed without a care or sitting silently in stopped vehicles during the dead of night observing two dozen elephants crossing in front of us with nary a peep was magnificent. My favorite experience was the lion hunt.

Sitting in the dusty truck on the Maasai Mara in Kenya, I watched a mother lion stalk and capture a baby warthog with surprising stealth and speed. Picking up the flailing, screeching piglet in her jaws, she violently shook it until it lay limp. I thought she had shaken it dead.