Dr. Carmen Joy Imes

Imagine this:  You are a young mother nearing her due date living just outside of Seattle, Washington, but you fear going out in public. You...

Things are bad in this world of ours. An awful lot of hard stuff is going on. If there was ever a time to cry, this is it. But many Christia...

We bought our house in Oregon sight unseen back in 2014. Crazy, I know. Except that we had family members kind enough to comb the area, take...

By Unknown - Frank Thompson, The Alamo (2005), p. 106, Public Domain   "Remember the Alamo!" The cry, unbidden, echoed...

When you enter the doors of a new church, anything could happen. Churches with dwindling numbers are often surprised to see a new face, as t...

In my first post in this series , I claimed that true joy is impossible to find when we are living in denial. We begin our journey to joy by...

Rocky Mountain National Park (Photo: C. Imes) The gray morning crept through the valley, but we were already awake, dressed, and loading...

Photo: Carmen Imes In honor of the traditional day on which the gifts of the magi are remembered, I'm thinking about gifts I receive...

The trail along the Salmon River offered cool shade that August afternoon. Countless trees, some of them wider than I am tall, others just...

Some of these posts got a lot of hits. Others didn't. These are simply my favorites: On Family ... Feb 9 -  raising world changers  -...

God has gifts to give us that can only come wrapped in suffering. We would rather not receive them. We’d rather mark them “return to se...

I've said before that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Along with millions of Americans, I'm counting my blessings today. Right...

Some seasons of life we'd rather not endure. Heavy black clouds dampen everything and choke out joy. We long to turn the corner, to pack...

Outside rain is pouring down, making a symphony of car and house and ground and tree. As each drop splashes I feel myself calm, relax, and l...

We had no idea. Slipping outside and starting up the hill together, hand in hand, Mom and Daughter, we were thinking of ice cream. We chatte...

I've been thinking a lot lately about a very difficult season Danny and I went through almost 10 years ago. We were in the Philippines, ...

Ten years ago today, Danny, Eliana, and I boarded a plane bound for the Philippines, officially moving from "appointee" to ...

After 6 days straight of academic conferences, it was a delight to come home to family. My parents were able to join us, and the kids had a ...

Last week I succumbed to the wonderful sort of malady that strikes all who attend ETS, IBR, and SBL—mental gluttony. Falling each year on th...

If you sit down and read documents from the ancient Near East (I realize very few of you have actually done this . . . but stay with me), it...