Kayla Crist

Before I read almost anything, I do as much learning as possible about the author.  I read everything I can about the storyteller, so that I might hear the voice of their writing accurately.  I can be a very thorough person and 'knowing' who I am reading is just part of me.  Perhaps you function this way too and if so then todays post is for you.

I am simple in every way.  I like simple systems and simple days filled with my kids and a great read aloud.  I care so little about fashion, social media, and degrees...although true scholarship is so beautiful...this of course does not include Google or FaceBook :)  

I do not fit into tribes very well.  I seem to be too conservative for many and too liberal for an equal amount.  I am much more at home with the bridge builders than I am with tribalism.  In fact, tribes repel me since so many tend to be powered by hate and I believe so much more in the power of love.

I adore my husband.  Understatement.  I thank God for my pastor and partner and greatest friend.  I am an introvert, although meeting me you may not believe so.  This man with so many titles in my life is the safest human and person most-like Jesus I have ever met.  He is goodness.

I am both gifted and cursed with deep empathy.  There is almost something supernatural about the level of feeling I can have for others.  People are precious and sacred...all of them...unborn, elderly, black, tan, female, young, religious and those imprisoned.  It is only by the grace of God...

I love to get up 3 hours before my children with hot tea, and my Bible.  I LOVE dark, slow mornings.  I love art and letting my kids get messy and then giving them warm baths full of laughter.  I love Lake Michigan and have nearly a million memories there and hope to have a million more.

I also love music and nature and how both bring my favorite people alive.  I love the woods and fall and reading with a blanket.  Did I mention that I like simple?  It is worth mentioning again.  I really like simple goodness...family dinners, living books and pictures of recorded memories on our walls.

I chase Jesus everyday through the ancient text.  I love the story of God and plan to let its pages change me more and more for the rest of my days.  My biggest heros share my faith:  Mother Teresa, Ravi Zacharias, David Platt and the Quakers that housed Harriet Tubman.  Humans worthy of grace.

If I could meet anyone from history I would choose Charlotte Mason first and thank her for the phrase 'living books'.  Good literature has marked our home with sweetness for nearly two decades.  Then I would meet Abraham Lincoln and thank him for his courage and example in parenting, wild and free!

I am afraid of snakes and mice and especially of seeing either in our house.  I am equally fearful of FaceBook and unbridled unkindness.  They appear to be married and live in Cyberspace.  The humble and those marked by lovingkindness are my kind of people...and they do exist.

My friends are the ones who are still showing up at my hardest funerals and to cheer for birthdays.  They know I am both sinner and saint, like David.  They are my Nathan.  They know how I long to be Mary in this Martha world and that our friendship will happen in real time and in real places, not virtually. 

The Bible has undoubtedly formed my orthodoxy.  I am convinced of design and the more I live within it, I am blessed by peace and freedom.  My parents however, have shaped my orthopraxy...they are generous and kind and selfless and humble and compassionate and friends.

I appreciate good scholarship and especially love to learn the other side of the story.  I believe there is good in people if we would just slow down and listen to their story.  I work hard to teach objective history and am saddened by the revision by both the secular and religious...subjective stories lose their impact.

And finally, there is a mystery in my own story...my children.  I don't know of anyone that knew how much I dreamed of 4 sons and a daughter.  This was a private desire I only shared with God.  But they exist and are sleeping right above me.  Kadan, Jaxan, Danika, Jensen and Kanaan you are my reason for nearly every decision I make.  I will always wonder why such grace!  

May I give you warmth and love everyday.