Exactly a year ago today I decided to go a whole year without buying clothes. Before you get too impressed, you should know there were some exceptions. If I was given a gift card for a birthday or other special occasion, I used it on clothes. There were a few other exceptions, but the main … Read more
I’ve always had a kind of obsession with personality tests and anything like it. So it was no surprise that when the old, but newly mainstream, Enneagram started making waves in my circles I was drawn to it. I loved it immediately, for a lot of reasons, not the least of these being the layers … Read more
I was a senior in high school when a male youth leader told me I needed to work on my “gentle and quiet spirit”—a direct quote taken from a letter the apostle Peter wrote to the New Testament Church. He may have had a point. I was loud and outspoken and maybe a little unruly. … Read more
This time last year Rodney and I had the chance to go out to Denver, Colorado for a long weekend. It had been nine years almost to the day since we had been there, and nine years since we had been around any real sort of mountains. We landed in the dark but stretched our … Read more
A couple of years ago Rodney and I went on a vacation—without kids—and had another couple join us. We got there the day before they did and when they arrived we were lounging by the pool, table side guacamole being eaten and fruity drinks in our hands. They approached and we hugged and laughed and … Read more
The lines that used to appear as parentheses to my mouth only under close inspection, and only when actually smiling seem suddenly—though I know it’s not “sudden”, because getting older isn’t ever sudden—more pronounced. These days I wear sunglasses to shield my eyes from the sun, but mostly to hide the crow’s feet around them and prevent the … Read more
![12 YEARS IN: HOW MARRIAGE IS [AND ISN’T] WHAT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE](https://khanexplore.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/HOW-MARRIAGE-IS-AND-ISNT-WHAT-I-THOUGHT-IT-WOULD-BE.png)
In the classic romantic comedy, When Harry Met Sally, at the end, after decades of bad relationships and bad timing and bad breakups when Harry chases down Sally at a New Year’s Eve party and they finally realize they belong together, Harry says: “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life … Read more
In the Jewish tradition, when someone is named, it’s believed that the essence of who that person is, is being named and drawn out. It’s why Adam’s name is a play on the Hebrew word for Earth, having been made from the dust of the Earth, and why Abram, a name meaning exalted father, is changed to … Read more
There’s that story by famed fairy tale writer, Hans Christian Anderson, about an emperor and two weavers chosen to make the ruler a new pair of clothes. The clothes, the emperor is told by the weavers, will be invisible to those who are incompetent, foolish, and unsuitable for their positions in the kingdom. In actuality, … Read more
On Sunday night, after an article in the New York Times detailing another woman’s story of abuse mistreatment and sexual misconduct from Bill Hybels came out, I couldn’t sleep. It was for all the reasons you might expect, but also because I had been noticing a trend, and when sleep wasn’t coming I spent a … Read more