“You didn’t write this—you copied this from another student,” I told one of my 10th grade English students. He emphatically denied it. I showed him the other student’s paper. I read them both, side by side. He still denied it. The truth  was sitting right in front of his face, and he still held on to the idea that he didn’t cheat. Unfortunately, I’ve had this same type of conversation with numerous students. Now that AI has made it so easy for students to cheat, these conversations happen more and more often. What baffles me is not just the lack of academic integrity, but the lying in the aftermath of getting caught. These students hold on to their lie, and they refuse to take accountability. And the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized that this isn’t just a student problem—it’s a human problem. Identity Sometimes, refusal to take accountability in the face of truth has to do with our skewed view of ourselves. If your identity is rooted in something othe...

Last week, I caught a student cheating on a project. His girlfriend had completed the project for him, and he turned it in with his name on it. When I confronted him, he refused to admit it, even though I had his handwriting sample and the girl’s handwriting sample. She had even used the same pen on both assignments. What stood out to me wasn’t so much the cheating, but rather his response. Instead of taking accountability, he had the audacity to be offended that I would accuse him of cheating. That reaction is what got me thinking. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand what he had done. It wasn’t that there was a misunderstanding or a lack of evidence. The truth was clear. But instead of accepting it, he rejected it. More than that—he was offended by it. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized how often we do the exact same thing. A few years ago, I wrote about taking offense —about how often we assume something is directed at us when it really isn’t. Most of the...

We had rented a house right on the shore. My sister and her kids joined us—six kids and two adults at the beach. We've done this before—we weren't too worried how outnumbered we were. The house was four stories tall, with wall-length windows and wrap-around porches facing the water—a small bay that opened up to the ocean. A giant shark torso and head jutted up from the lowest level, giving the illusion it was a "Jaws" attack. My bedroom was on the uppermost level, facing the water. I would lie in bed at night as the waves lulled me to sleep. I would watch the dark expanse and wonder what was beyond the shore. Some days, I would stand at the water's edge and marvel at what the Lord had made. Next door quite a few yards away sat a fun outdoor restaurant and bar with a large deck that had Christmas lights strung on the ceiling. Bands would play on the weekends and rock out the slough. One night, the lights were out, and all the customers came up on my d...

Go anywhere on social media, and you can find memes (pictures with words on them) of beautiful backdrops with the words "You are Enough" written in elegant fonts. There are songs and even Ted Talks hailing, "You are enough!" There are books about healing from heartbreak titled or subtitled, "You are Enough." Most of the books I've found titled this are Christian books. Taking it a step further, some memes even say, "For the right man, you will be enough." The sentiment behind "You are enough" is that you are worthy; you are valuable; you are priceless; you are a treasure . These words of encouragement are meant to help strengthen those who are plagued with self-doubt, those who are struggling with emotional pain and those who lack an identity in Christ. It is imperative to our Christian walk that we remind ourselves of our worth and value every day. We are children of the Most High King, and we are loved beyond measure. ...

We ordered a shrimp egg roll as an appetizer, and it was sitting in the middle of the table. I took the spoon wrapped up in my napkin so I could drizzle the sauce on my egg roll--because no one likes someone who double dips! I set the spoon on my appetizer plate and ate the egg roll. My husband reached across the table and took my spoon off my plate to drizzle sauce on his egg roll. I smiled at him and looked at him sideways. I thought to myself, "Why would he use my spoon when he has his own?" For a second, I thought maybe he just really wanted to use my spoon. I touched his napkin, in which was wrapped a spoon and fork. "You have your own spoon, you know," I teased. Embarrassment and laughter flushed across his face. He covered his face and laughed, "I thought that spoon came with the egg rolls!" I shook my head no, and I smiled at this precious man. "I was wondering why you would take the spoon yourself and not share it," he finally ...

Growing up, the adults in my life would tell me that I was a leader. Being young and naïve, I would try to be a leader—I ran for class office, I tried to step up into other leadership roles at school, and I never won. Not once. My senior year, I was captain of the basketball team, but that was mainly because I was the best one on the team—not because of stellar leadership skills. I left high school thinking that the adults in my life were severely misled about my abilities, and that I was most definitely not a leader. So that's how I led my life—that is until a couple years ago. One of the singles pastors at church decided that I needed to lead a group. Obviously, I did not concur, but I bit the bullet and did it anyway. After that season, I was asked again to be a leader, then again. In May 2016, I got a call from my singles pastor. She asked me to lead the Single Parent Family Mission Trip to Mexico. I had not even really planned on going on that trip. I had been prayi...

This past week, the lead singer of the band Linkin Park, Chester Bennington, committed suicide. Unlike other recent celebrity suicides and overdoses, this one has affected me more than any other. Maybe it's because he's so close to my age. Maybe it's because I liked Linkin Park so much. Maybe it's more than any of that. When I was in college, the band Linkin Park released their first studio album, Hybrid Theory . One of my best friends and I couldn't wait until the band came to Texas so we could see them in concert. We drove two and a half hours to see them, and couldn't stop talking about the concert. We weaseled our way down to as close to the stage as the security guards would let us go without proper tickets. I can still see the sweat dripping down from Chester's frosted-tips to his temple. With their grungy guitar-heavy rock sound combined with Chester's scraggly voice and Mike's near rapping, the band was a perfect combination of al...

I saw a post on Facebook today that went something like this, "My heart is broken in two for my three year old son. Why? Because a teen-aged bully hated his hair. My precious son won't stop asking me why people hate him for his hair color. He's left so confused and upset." I completely feel for this mom. She had no idea how to answer her son, and she expressed her empathy toward her son. Unfortunately, the mom's broken heart is misplaced. I'm not saying she should not feel empathy for her son. When our children hurt, we hurt. But ultimately, her heart should be broken for the teenager who is so cruel that he would make fun of a three year old little boy's hair. That's what's happening to God's heart. His heart is broken for the teenager. Of course God's heart hurts for us when we are hurt, too. But should we even be hurt by these words? We know that we will hurt in this life, because we live in a sinful world. God never said tha...