I am joining in the literal thousands of voices this week honoring the woman that changed Christian writing forever.

The one and only, Rachel Held Evans.

Over the past few days, the conversation in my house has been filled with a lot of, “I cannot believe she’s gone” or “it really feels like the world is dimmer, or a light has gone out.” We have gone back and forth talking about how we cannot remember a time in our lives when someone we have not met has died, and it felt like there was an actual hole.

I remember finding Rachel’s blog around the same time I found Jamie Wright’s. I was working at a church that had a vastly different interpretation of the Bible as I did, and these voices were breaths of fresh air. Especially when Love Wins was announced and Rachel posted about four books to recommend reading about heaven and hell, which as I think back was probably the first time I engaged with the writings of N.T. Wright (as Surprised by Hope was one of her recommendations). While I have never been consistent at reading or following blogs, twitter gave birth to a new medium that I could follow and podcasts blew down that door. Reconnecting with her thoughts and ideas as I listened to her on the Bible for Normal People was a great reminder on what I was missing out on. As I sit back and think about it, not many books come to mind that I’ve had the opportunity to engage in conversation with others about in recent memory as Inspired offered.

When my wife texted me about her death on Saturday, I like most people, where gutted and shocked at this sudden loss. Her death happened too soon, and is not right. I’m not even talking about what writing or ideas she still had to explore but the loss for Dan and her two very young children.

There is so much to  say and write about her, and others will do it much better than I have. I just wanted to say thank you to Rachel, for being a voice in the wilderness for me. I just can’t believe she’s gone.