jamie's wanderings

      It's an overwhelming world. Rain and the coldest month of the year never help the feels, and to watch the world descend into chaos while that's happening, even more disheartening.     On an international level, to quote the old book, it is full of wars and rumors of wars, and over all, a lot of unrest. On a personal level, its a low moment, and I'm hopeful it doesn't last long.     I have remembered lately friends of the past and how they touched my life to keep me going, and I've just learned on a deeper level that an old friend has experienced some of the same issues I've discussed in this blog, in the words of his wife, "he was accused of not preaching the Gospel in his sermons."     This accusation has been tossed towards me more than once and again and again, and to see it thrown against people I know to be Christ followers, makes me even more determined as I sit here in my chilly living room this rainy end of Jan night. What is th...

It's not been a week since my last blog, and yet, the heart is so overwhelmed, it needs to write. My brother Jason encouraged me earlier this year that I should write more as creativity is what we all need in this moment. Again, as I've stated, by no means is this blog political. I have always wished to protray in my social media and internet sphere as a person of faith, of living in another culture I wasn't raised in, an academic and a businesswoman, not always in that particular order. But its too heavy. A woman made a decision and a man made a decision. Her's did not appear to threaten life, his took hers and he called her out with the worst slur for a man to call a woman in the English language. And worse yet, because everywhere, men demean and degrade women they feel they most impose their power upon, he was defended, whisked away to an unknown location. And we may never see any sense of justice or truth, instead we see coverup and lies. Many on social media this w...

 Two days into the new year, 2026, and I met someone that felt like I was looking the mirror, but a long time ago. And I cried. And hope flooded back. How did this go? Friends were invited, suddenly came and all together, the little family and Andrew and I found a place for food. We sat and had pizza. J, (which felt fun because I'm James to my family and my brother is Jay) asked me politely what I did. For an almost 15 year old, I was impressed with their ability to start a conversation. In this day and age, so many teenagers could care less about the older person sitting next to them at the pizzeria. So I gently explained, and they looked me straight into my eyes and I said, I don't think I could sell houses. I don't think I read people very well. I paused. I remember saying such things at 15 years old, and then people realized what that was, and they challenged me. Or they didn't. And I remember those moments so clearly like a bell. And it all came rushing back as I l...