Journal

Author: Karla Petty

The Bridge Between Reason and Desire

The Bridge Between Reason and Desire

It was a dark room with about 16 other people in it.  Unseasonably hot outside, the air conditioning was going full blast, and I shivered under a duct as I awaited Rose Cousins, Canadian singer/songwriter, at a small venue in suburbia.  Her 2017 release Natural...
Remembering Virginia Watson

Remembering Virginia Watson

In February of 2018, we held a retreat at Corhaven in which Virginia Watson, a then-94 year old woman sat with us for a day and shared some of her wisdom, gained through a lifetime of walking closely with Jesus.  On May 24, 2019, she joined Jesus in Heaven. For the...

Tell Me the Story Again, Please

Bedtime stories. Epic ballads. Campfire tales. They are the stories that never grow old, that fade in one form only to emerge again arrayed with different adjectives, a different detail or two, but recognizable to anyone.  When we were very young, my older brother and...
Why Walk? (El Camino 2019!)

Why Walk? (El Camino 2019!)

It is true that nowadays there are many faster ways to travel 100 kilometers or 62 miles than walking.  And yet, the Camino de Santiago de Compostela is more popular than ever.  While the major motion picture helped, there is a growing trend towards spiritual...

The Feast of All Saints

“… to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Corinthians 1:2 Today, November 1, is the Feast of All Saints. Recognition, veneration, and prayer...
We’re back from Nepal!

We’re back from Nepal!

Well friends, we’ve returned safely from our mission pilgrimage to Nepal.  And what a trip it was! The Lord guided us, protected us, granted us special opportunities, magnificent vistas, and revealed himself in many unexpected places.  Our second trip to Nepal...

Coracle and ARDF in Nepal – Part 1

Hello friends! Our team is now fully assembled and diving into our pilgrimage here in Nepal.  Most of us landed on Friday in Kathmandu and have enjoyed getting to know one another as well as familiarizing ourselves with the rhythms, sounds, and people around us. ...
The Warm Hope of a Cold Spring

The Warm Hope of a Cold Spring

“A cold spring: the violet was flawed on the lawn. For two weeks or more the trees hesitated; the little leaves waited, carefully indicating their characteristics. Finally a grave green dust settled over your big and aimless hills… The infant oak-leaves swung through...
Let Us Come Together

Let Us Come Together

One of the primary features of living Christianity as Christ has called us to live it is being a part of community.  Whatever Myers-Briggs personality type you are, or where you fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum, there is no getting around the fact that Christ...
Wisdom at 94 Years…

Wisdom at 94 Years…

For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. ~ Proverbs 2:6 Time and again, the bible instructs us to seek wisdom. In Proverbs 8, wisdom is personified as a woman who calls out to the “children of man”.  For many of us, seeking wisdom...
Notes from the Camino

Notes from the Camino

“SOOOO… How was the CAMINO??” When I have been posed this question over the last few weeks since I’ve been back, I allow myself a long pause before responding.  There is so much to say, so much I could relate about all that God did while walking 70 miles with 5 other...
Deeper Into Life

Deeper Into Life

It’s doubtful that people ever actually want to meditate on suffering. But these mediations do come in the course of our lives, through direct or indirect circumstances. About two years ago, I wrote to you about the death of my cousin, Brian. In early Spring, I wrote...
ContemPLAYtion

ContemPLAYtion

In the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, there is a running gag featuring monks in sombre garments, trudging through streets, chanting mirthlessly and monotonously in Latin, hitting themselves on the head with boards in between cadences of their chant.  Despite...

Summertime…and the livin’ is easy

A long, slow, exhale as you ease into your chair with something you’ve been wanting to read.  A sultry morning, a soundtrack of cicadas and sprinklers, sans school buses, when you can already feel the heat sizzle at 7am. A warm night outside with a grill going and...

On Pilgrimage… Where will you go?

“…it remains the case that Christianity is not, at its heart, a territorial religion.” -N.T. Wright You are a pilgrim. Whether or not you hold a passport, whether or not you’ve ever left your hometown, you are.  Since people began to write things down, they have...

One Fool’s Offering. What’s Yours?

“Originality consists in returning to the origin.” – Antoni Gaudí I hadn’t heard of Antoni Gaudí before spring of 2004 when I first visited Barcelona, but you can’t miss him once you’re there. Of the many works this master architect designed, his pièce de...

God’s Love = 20/20 Vision

Right on the heels of Epiphany, appropriately, I’d like to ask: Has something familiar ever suddenly, or maybe over time, become totally new to you? Have you ever asked yourself what shifted that allowed that newness to flood into something so familiar? For me, it was...