[Note: You can also listen to this article on my podcast. Simply search for Pondering Purple by name on your usual platform or listen online by clicking HERE.] It feels like it’s been going on for a long time, doesn’t it? This sheltering-in-place. This waiting with insufficient evidence that this will truly end anytime […]

Hi, friends! My goal for 2020 was to turn my most-frequently-read articles into something people could consume on the go. Statistically, more consumers gain information through podcasts and audio services today than through reading, so creating the Pondering Purple Podcast seemed like an effective strategy for extending the reach of my MK ministry.  The technical […]

[Note: though I primarily refer to college or university students in this article, the emotional impact of high school closures on teenagers, particularly for seniors, will be similar in nature and intensity.] I was surprised at how viscerally I felt the announcement that colleges around the nation would be closing their doors and going virtual […]

  [Prefer listening to reading? This article is available in audio format on the Pondering Purple podcast. Find it by name on your favorite platforms or through this link.]     As you can imagine, the topic of faith comes up frequently when talking with Missionaries Kids. We do a lot of processing about the […]

Consider yourself warned: there is mature content in this article. If you have a tendency to twitch or break out in hives at the mere thought of words like “sex,” “hormones” and (gasp) “climax,” do not read on. This post has been brewing for years, galvanized by my work with young-adult believers and fomented by […]

In the years I’ve spent leading sessions about Third Culture Kids, I’ve referred to the traits we derive from growing up between worlds in the context of ministry as our “Identity.” We tend to be geographically aware. Adaptable. Multiligual. Inclusive. Relational. Agents of change. That’s who we are—what defines us—right?  Not entirely. Yes, these fruits […]

  [As I work full-time with Missionaries’ Kids, I mention MKs frequently in this article, but the truths I outline would apply to any young person navigating growing up in our complicated modern world–particularly if raised in an intensely religious environment.]  My goal in writing this article is not to shock. It isn’t to ruffle […]

[If you’re more of a watcher than a reader, there’s a video at the bottom of this post. You can also listen to it on the Pondering Purple podcast, HERE.] When I was little, I’d snuggle up to my mom in the evenings and listen to her reading “Are You My Mother?”, attracted to the […]

[This article is also available on the Pondering Purple podcast. Simply search for it by name on your preferred podcast platform or listen online HERE.]   “One of my favorite moments in Star Trek is when Captain Kirk looks over the cosmos and says, ‘Somewhere out there, someone is saying the three most beautiful words in […]

There were ghouls, witches and zombies wandering around my neighborhood in October. Some wore pink sneakers under their torn bed sheets. Others had lollipop smudges on their chins. All held bags and baskets at arms’ length, hoping their harmless evilness would score them extra loot. But there is nothing harmless about true evil. Neither in […]