When the Bible pins you to the wall

When the Bible pins you to the wall

Faith & Inspiration | I first attended the local men’s theology meeting last summer because I like to watch the minds of preachers work. I like to observe while they open the Bible and ponder hard how its principles trail into a hundred…

Learning the cost of community

Learning the cost of community

Essay |  For me, moving back home means moving back into acommunity of all generations.  In college I took political theory classes that routinely covered the…

Chelsea writing by candlelight.

Room to write

Essay |  Virginia Woolf insisted that in order for a woman to write she needed money and a room of her own. So upon graduating from college, I set out to make a room…

Needing the cows to ignore me

Needing the cows to ignore me

Essay |  Last week I achieved one of my most pressing post-graduation goals: I gazed at some cows for a few minutes … all alone. I’ve been an overstimulated,

Chelsea Kolz speaking at her college commencement Saturday.

Beginning the life-after-college story

Essay |  On Saturday I spoke at my college commencement, wearing these snakeskin heels that reminded me of the foot bindings that slowly broke the bones in the feet of…

Kissing college good-bye

Kissing college good-bye

Education |  A few nights ago, during my last undergraduate class ever, the clock’s hands moved like a twitchy mustache. I couldn’t decide what to do with my legs.

The people who ‘happen to be there’

The people who ‘happen to be there’

Faith & Inspiration |  In the downstairs of a dirty, smoke-filled house I once heard this wedding toast from a man I will call “Harvey.” Serving as the best man in his…

Socrates (left) and Billy Joel

Building my brain furniture through the classics

Education |  An old roommate told me that if one walks late into a conversation, one should listen for 15 minutes before speaking. The principle serves as a good metaphor…

Chelsea Kolz and her purchase.

My love affair with the Old Gray Lady

Essay |  College taught me to lust after newspapers. At college I live inside four brick walls with many books. Newspapers come, very notably, from outside. The other…

Edith and Francis Schaeffer

Edith Schaeffer, 1914-2013

Obituary |  The widow of Francis Schaeffer and co-founder of L’Abri Fellowship is remembered for her humanity, humility, and hospitality

God’s legs can never be cut off

God’s legs can never be cut off

Faith & Inspiration |  “I used to have heroes, but God kept cutting their legs off.” I forget who said this. I heard it once on the radio. Maybe like me you came of age in a…

A dose of God’s mercy

A dose of God’s mercy

Faith & Inspiration |  After seven solid days of sickness, I got a bottle of pink medicine from the clinic doctor and his Russian nurse. The nurse wears shoes as big as alligators.

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