In my early twenties I used to daydream of the perfect job to complement writing. The criteria were these: It had to be part-time; I wanted hours leftover to write at my desk. It need not be high-paying; I was a budgeter, lived simply. And then this: It should require the use of my body… …

  If you’d told me at age 20 or so that one day I’d be up in front of several hundred churchgoers, preaching a sermon, I would’ve been shocked. My family didn’t belong to any faith tradition, and if I had to pick one for myself, it definitely would not have been Christianity. Life surprises you. …