• Featured - narcissistic abuse

    The Unreasonable Nabal: Narcissists in the Bible

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    Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings, and he was of the house of Caleb. 1 Samuel 25: I suppose everyone has moments where they are unreasonable. I know I do. But most people come around once they get a nap, a snack, or a good talking to. But for others, being unreasonable is a tool that they use to upend other’s sense of reality. The narcissist is the inventor of the impossible choice, I think, and Nabal…

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    Displacement

    Jesus: Child Refugee on the Run

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    And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt. Matthew 2:13-14 That Jesus spent a good part of his childhood as a refugee wrenches my heart. I remember taking a train from Georgia to Los Angeles with my four girls as we fled my…

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    Featured - Trauma

    The Anchorage Earthquake: A Lesson in Aftershocks

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    The Anchorage earthquake of 2018 wasn’t my first rodeo, though it felt like it. I remember the Northridge quake decades ago while I was in college. I lived too far away to feel much except a jolt as I walked through the apartments at the University of California, Irvine. I remember the pictures, of course. Broken bridges and crumpled asphalt roads shock the eye and alarm the heart, even if one isn’t personally affected. But this one frightened me. I should say terrified. I realize now that I have never been properly terrified. The car accidents I have been in,…