Hi, I’m Laurie.
No, I’m not a huge J.R.R. Tolkien fan, but I am a big fan of the phrase and the idea that “Not all who wander are lost.” I’m a fan of being honest and real and authentic. I’m a fan of living with integrity and openly and with your full heart. Because, Lord knows, our days are fleeting. I’m a big fan of Jesus; nay, more than a big fan. I love Him with my whole heart. I love how He takes ashes and makes them beautiful and how He offers grace each day to all of us despite how crappy and awful we can be. I love how He never gives up on us and how we can hear His voice if we but take the time to listen.
And I love His church. Most of the time. Well, some of the time. Let’s be honest, for a number of years I didn’t love His church. People can be not so great. Including me. But He loves His church in spite of it all, and through it all. Go figure. He loves us–the good, the bad, the ugly.
But that doesn’t mean He is okay with how we are doing or behaving.
And I’m overwhelmingly sad of people saying, “Confidentially, Laurie, I’m about to walk away from the church.” My heart is crushed that so many are what my dear friend would call “the walking wounded” of the church. We’ve been hurt. Maybe verbally or physically. We’ve been ostracized or chastised or demoralized.
Perhaps we’ve been left out because of our gender or our sexual orientation or our racial or our socio-economic level. Yeah, I’ve been there. I’ve been hurt by people who love Jesus. And by those who don’t. And I’ve done the hurting, too.
Friends, it’s okay to be disappointed with our reality in the church today. It’s okay to be frustrated and sad and to cry and (when necessary) to even walk away for a season. It is in the hardest times and places when we can see the clearest. It is when we hurt that God can begin to heal.
If you are wandering, friend, do it. And do with all your heart. But do it with God. You are not lost, for nowhere we go is out of the presence of our good and gracious God. He hears your heart cry. Oh wanderer, come home. Come home to Jesus, and discover His love for you anew. Through it all, maybe, just maybe, you may discover a renewed love for His church as well.
This is a blog for you, my wandering friends. It’s a place for you to read and cry and let go of your hurts and pains. It’s a place where it’s safe to say you are on the edge and maybe need to walk away for a bit in order to come back stronger. My hope is that every word you read will allow you to authentically feel what you feel but to do so in the grace and truth of a good God who loves you and wants to heal you.
In my day job I work as the Director of Communications and Marketing at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College where I co-host a fun podcast on Christians & culture and oversee some things like the Our Gospel Story movement and curriculum. I have B.A. in journalism and communications and an M.A. in interdisciplinary studies (yeah, ask me about that sometime).
And I do some other stuff. And I hang out with my awesome family and my friends and my puppy, Duncan (see below). And I run because it’s how I think. And I’m about to set out on a journey to write a book which will point all those who don’t know the love of Jesus straight into His arms to find hope and rest and joy and everything good.
And I’m here to listen to you, because your “confidentials” matter so much. They keep me up at night and they inspire me to offer whatever words of encouragement to help you find your way home after you wander.
Much love, Laurie