Have you ever read the gospels and found yourself astounded by the number of Mary’s that were involved in the events of the time? It’s almost like watching a modern day play where every other female character is named Jennifer, and yet every Jennifer has a distinct personality, and is somehow involved in her own concurrent plot. Now, I’m no theater major – I’ve never even watched a show on Broadway. I didn’t study literature and have never read Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet (though I am preferential to the adaptation that featured Aaliyah), and I’m not a hundred percent sure what a sonnet is – but I do know a literary device when I see one. I’ve read the Bible enough times to know to never underestimate God’s ability to weave a narrative throughout history that speaks through the written Word to the unique experience and circumstance of an individual…

I never understood the story of Samson and Delilah, even when I was a child. Don’t get me wrong – it was an intriguing enough story; a man who had such power coming from just his hair. And as I grew older, I couldn’t help but picture Samson a la Man Bun (don’t tell me you can’t see it), a sort of Sinbad-esque figure, slaying beasts. But despite my hyper imagination, the story was one that still left me with one burning question: What the heck was wrong with this dude? It’s one thing to have a deceptive wife, but it’s a whole other thing to be married to someone who is CLEARLY trying to get you killed. If you’ve never heard the story, think Romeo and Juliet… except if Juliet was a conniving, backstabbing wife. It goes that Samson, this powerful man of God with the strength of an…

There have always been stories in the Bible that puzzled me. Jacob stealing Esau’s blessings. Saul hunting down David. David taking Berthsheba for himself. Amazing men of God who were purposed for greatness and yet at the same time seemed to have so many hit-and-miss moments. Over the last few weeks I’ve found myself in many of these stories, gleaning for some level of wisdom or understanding. Afterall, the Bible is not just a guide for us on how to live life, but also very much a cautionary tale on how not to. So I wasn’t surprised that I found myself wrestling today with the story of Rachel and Leah, the Desperate Housewives of Haran (and perhaps rightfully so). Though many of you already know the story of Jacob and his wives Rachel and Leah, I’m going to share the TBE (Told By Eudora) version anyway, because this is just a…

Colossians 1:15-20 I spent 9 of my most formative years growing up in Ghana, and in middle school in Ghana, there’s a subject that every student has to take called Pre-Technical Skills. Basically, it’s the equivalent of Shop Work or Wood Work, but with a heavy emphasis on the technical skills needed to build things – perfecting angles and lines, and understanding how to draw a blueprint before actually setting forth to create a piece of work. And man, did I hate Pre-tech. Not because I thought it was the most useless subject in the entire curriculum (even more so than Agricultural Studies where we would memorize the different parts of farm machinery and different species of goats – Nungua blackhead anyone?), and not because I didn’t understand it, but because of the level precision it took to master it. You’d have to draw out the preliminary outlines in a specific…

I will not die; instead, I will live     to tell what the Lord has done. – Psalm 118:7 Twenty-SEVEN. It’s not an age I thought I’d ever attain. Not because I expected to die prematurely or anything of the sort, but just because it’s not an age you see yourself at. I could grapple with 26 and all the existential questions that came with passing the 25 mark and being inducted into the dreaded 26-35 life grouping, but somehow imagined life would speed up from there and I’d simply hit 30 and I’d be in a much more settled place when it came to self and all else. Joke was on me. LOL But in all honesty, 26 has come and gone, and as I’ve reflected on it these past few days, it really turned out to be almost everything I asked for. God actually came through and I am…