This week I'm back at Willow Creek Community Church to lead a three-week class on Thriving Single in a World Geared for Families. If you're in the Chicago area and in the single demographic, I hope you'll consider joining us!

This class is running concurrent with the Family Series at Willow right now. This past weekend senior pastor Bill Hybels preached on dating. Check out what he had to say:

(click image to watch video)

I wish I were as good at waiting as Carson, my seven-year-old nephew. The other day he said with all the sincerity and excitement only a grade-schooler can embody, “I’m so excited about Christmas Eve, it makes my legs wiggle.”

His waiting is marked by eager excitement (okay, yes, mostly for the presents Santa will bring). But my waiting, I’m sad to say, is usually marked by impatient toe-tapping and eye-rolling. And sometimes even by dread or detachment.

At times I feel like I’ve spent the better part of my years waiting. I grew up in a family with three women and one bathroom. As the youngest of those females, I didn’t earn the best spot in line. I live a block from a train track, and I can’t count the wasted hours I’ve spent in my trusty Honda waiting for another line of train cars to pass. I’m a 38-year-old never-married woman, and the wait to find a good man who’s a good fit for me has at times seemed unbearable. And for the past seven months I’ve been waiting to hear back from the countless companies to which I’ve sent my resume, longing for one of them to hire me.

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I’ve been reviewing quite a few movies recently. Here’s my take on a few at your local theater:

Up in the Air

A trio of strong performances, witty dialogue, and a deft blend of snark and heart makes this dramedy soar.

Everybody’s Fine

The acting and poignancy are much more than fine; unfortunately the film gets marred by a heavy-handed message.

 

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It was a good trade. I lent my friend Mark some DVDs and he gave me 12 containers of fish, chicken, and beef he and his wife had gotten on the cheap through their food co-op.

The government had Cash for Clunkers. We had Movies for Meat.

I obviously got the better end of that trade. I get to keep the meat; Mark’s eventually going to return my DVDs. But this wasn’t true bartering. This was benevolence.

As Mark told me, “We don’t have tons of cash to give to our unemployed friends, but we have lots of meat!” So that’s what he gave, and what I’ve been happily eating ever since.

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It was a huge honor. And, honestly, a fearsome thing.

When Larissa, the editor of Christian Single magazine, called and told me they wanted to feature me on their cover, I was pleasantly shocked.

And then slightly horrified. Mainly due to the timing. Before the interview and the photo shoot took place, I got laid off from my job of 15 years. Then I went to China for 16 days for a church trip. So by the day of the big photo shoot a couple days after my return, I was unemployed, jet-lagged, weighing 20 pounds more than I wanted to. And now being crowned the Queen of the Single People.

Say cheese!

Driving myself to the photo studio the day of the shoot, I remember telling myself to just get over myself and own it. During my 15 years on a magazine editorial staff, I'd been present at many photo shoots where the cover girl obviously felt self-conscious (a feeling I especially get now). And I'd seen some of the resulting deer-in-the-headlights pictures.

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