I’ve returned from Silent Retreat—40 women spent a long weekend not talking—not texting, not phoning, not even writing notes . . . not even at mealtime.  Impossible, you say?  Let me share what we gleaned.   Solitude.  Prayer.  Peace.  Renewal, from the inside out.   It’s the official opening of the year for me, much more so than New Year’s …

February 4–Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s birthday is today.  Bonhoeffer, dissident German pastor, prophet, WWII spy and radical disciple of Jesus Christ set my heart on fire through his writings—so much so, that his book and faith inspired the antidote to Hitler’s pursuit of a “Master Race” in my new book, Saving Amelie.  Martyred in 1945 near the end of WWII, Bonhoeffer’s words ring as true today …