@carol_mcclain Little is known for certain about Bathsheba  (the fourth woman mentioned in Jesus’s genealogy)and her relationship with King David. I highly recommend reading the Jewish Women’s Archive for a Jewish perspective on this complicated woman. For certain, we know: She was beautiful (1 Sam. 11:2) Her father and husband were elite members of David’s vanguard. (2 …[ read more ]

@carol_mcclain Recently I moved from northern New York, from a rural community closer to Montreal than any US city. Tennessee offered a vastly different world, and more than the differences I found here, I was a newcomer. Friend groups had been established, and being an introvert, working my way into them proved difficult. I was a …[ read more ]

@carol_mcclain Is your past unforgivable? Definitely not. Consider Rahab, one of the ancestors of Jesus, mentioned in Matthew 1:5. She was a prostitute. No little girl–or boy–decides as a child, “I’ll be a prostitute.” What forces one into this lifestyle? Drugs? Abuse? Poverty? They say this is the oldest profession, and indeed, we read about prostitutes …[ read more ]

@carol_mcclain Corey climbed the school bus one sunny spring day. As she took the first step, the entire bus chanted in unison, “Cooty-bug Corey, cooty-bug Corey.” They didn’t stop until the bus dropped her off at school. I believe Corey was ten-years-old, a nice girl who y I believe had the misfortune of getting head lice–a …[ read more ]

@carol_mcclain I was training for my first marathon. I’d left my running partner and headed for my cool-down when suddenly a HUGE boulder (aka: a pebble) lept out of the ground and tripped me up. I tumbled. I felt like I rolled head over keister. Worse than the mild concussion and bruised muscles and scraped skin, …[ read more ]