Recently, something strangely interesting dawned on me. It’s this. There are times, by choice, circumstance, or accident, we reencounter the paths we have been on with people we no longer have in our lives. Is this too obvious? It’s a bit of a revelation to me.

I am not in my element. Or, maybe I am. For the next six weeks, I host a small group of women studying the signs and wonders of Jesus’ ministry on earth. Keep reading please. This isn’t a column on conversion. Or maybe it is. Mine.

These days, my friends and loved ones slide down both sides on the arc of the political rainbow, and I am a better person because of them. Without an array of conservative, moderate, and liberal thinkers in my inner circle, I would not have the ability to hold the debate inside of my head to ferret out what I hold true, what I struggle to understand, and what I cannot accept. Political discussions wake me up and remind me of my freedoms under our Bill of Rights, and my ease in taking them for granted growing up in America.