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Today, I clipped the leash onto Dewey, my most reliable walking partner -- he always says yes, he never says no -- and coaxed him 4275 steps, according to my iPhone. It was a fruitful walk. I complimented a woman on her ...

I am waiting with bated breath for a memoir to arrive in my inbox, written by my father. Working title? My Story by Russell S. Durling. I've been a tiny bit coach and a big part cheerleader for my 85-year old dad, ...

Discouragement over pastors and leaders who fall is weighing heavy on almost everyone I know, especially women. It is a thick, wet fog. A long and depressing bewilderment. I spoke to a good friend the other day, and part of our conversation ...

Every now and then during church, Brent does something that makes me so uncomfortable that I try not to glance around nervously to see how other people are taking it. (Generally speaking, spouses try not to swivel their heads around to see ...

The other day the bottom fell out of my bag of pears. If the bag is the flimsy grocery store produce one, light green and very difficult to open once pulled from the roll (especially now that we do not lick our ...

Ta da! This is an announcement that I have finally finished Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, compiled and edited by Mason Currey. My sometimes-writing partner Patricia owned it first, and intrigued, I ordered it from a bookstore called Perfect Books, using a ...

Thanks to Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash for this cool windshield photo. "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug," has got to be one of the best lyrics from a Mary Chapin Carpenter song to which I have ever sung along poorly. ...

Thanks to Photo by Angèle Kamp on Unsplash for this cool image. It's been another long year for people in ministry, and yes, it's true, for the entire planet. In my work as a podcast host and editor of a magazine -- ...

Photo by Devon Rogers on Unsplash I chatted with a young writer the other day, and she asked me how important it was to focus on platform building. The lack of a platform can keep a writer wide awake at 3:00am, eating ...

The bike repair shop we discovered right around the corner, that kept my ride going. My cat-watching days are almost over. When quiet settled across the land in general and Arlington Street in particular, I sat on my bed and looked out ...

Dewey's dreams. These days Dewey and I walk more slowly than we ever have around our neighbourhood. It used to be exercise for me, and now it's more of a stroll of sniffing. Dewey starts out beside me and ends up behind ...

I have something fun to share. On Thursday, May 20th, if you're married to a pastor you are warmly invited to "Married to the Minister" a virtual gathering to be heard, seen and encouraged. Since the release of The Minister's Wife: a ...