God and Wine

In January,  I attended a conference centered on the art and science of preaching. It was an opportunity for me to work on my craft, to listen to other people work out their callings, and to fellowship with my cohort of sisters in ministry that I attended the conference with. Of course, there were opportunities to network with preachers from all walks of life, from varying denominational affiliations, and from regions across the country. Many of them I knew by name through social media or because of the circles that I run in, but most were pleasant strangers that I connected with during curated conversational moments. There were meaningful interactions around racism and microaggressions from the pulpit, the intersectional age/gender gap at this conference, sexism and homophobia in ministry circles, and other fruitful dialectical experiences. When discussing the conference with someone I know well who wasn't in attendance, we talked about the general framework of the event (i.e t...

This past December, I sat down with my checking accounts after my rent was paid, and I added up all of the past due medical bills that had been piling up for months (some, for years). I deduced that I had the funds to finally pay off the $500+ of unpaid bills--bills from the colonoscopy I had in 2014 and the biopsies I got done in November (nothing malignant was found). I was so proud of myself for paying off my medical bills at the end of the year. It felt like a tiny weight of debt was lifted from my aching back. In January, however, I got slammed with a new set of unexpected and hefty medical bills and, honestly, my friends, it's cheaper to die. 😶 When you go to the doctor or dentist these days, there is a lot of lack of clarity about how much things cost. I knew I'd have to pay for some of the colonoscopy and x-ray, and I did so up front, but I wasn't expecting the unexpected remainder that my insurance suddenly decided not to cover to slap me across the face ...