Dear God, Today I get to do something I love to do: lead a retreat. And lead it with a good friend, no less. And yet, even in my excitement, saying yes to this good thing means saying no to a few others. And I hate that. My FOMO is rearing its ugly head. Forgive […]
Life
Sinners Welcome Here: My Hope for the Church
Last fall, I was invited to be part of a Christianity Today International’s Hope for the Church project. An idea that encourages Christians to think more about what the church should be for, instead of against. I was happy to take part in this–especially since my role was simply to think up a hope (not hard, […]
Did the Demons Really Win?
I had wondered why the death of Whitney Houston struck me so. Why the news of her being found dead in a Beverly Hills bathtub hit me so hard. After all, I didn’t know the woman. Beyond that, I’d never been the world’s biggest Whitney fan. Not even back in the day. Even when the […]
Learning from The Leper Pig
My daughter loves gold and sparkly and my (one) son loves pigs. So obviously spotting this gold, sparkly pig as we walked into a church lobby after a friend’s concert was a Rivadeneira family win-win. As I stood waiting for my kids to stop oohing and ahhing over its goldy goodness, a woman from the […]
The Christmas Card
For the past two years now I’ve given a talk called “Grumble Merry Christmas.” In this talk, I admit that Rivadeneira Christmas Cards will not happen. “A Merry Christmas on Facebook will suffice,” I say. Well, turns out I lied. I’ve decided this year that a Merry Christmas wish on my BLOG will also happen. […]
Bitter vs. Honest
The other day I complained to a friend about a man we both knew. My words: “I’m so sick of Rich White Baby Boomer Men like him being so bitter about life because the parachute wasn’t quite golden enough.” My friend laughed and I kept going: “I mean. Really, like life is perfect for you, […]
