Thoughts on spirituality, culture, family, teaching & more
"How do you fight cynicism? Stay curious." This is my third year teaching at a school in the Kansas City area. Each of the past two years we have begun back-to-school teacher training with a sermon from a local pastor, a message reminding us of our duty to mold the children and young men and... Continue Reading →
...and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the... Continue Reading →
Sixth grade was a transitional year for me. I never really thought about style and appearances before that, but all the sudden looks mattered. That year in particular stood out to me because, wanting to appease one crowd, I began the year dressed in JNCO jeans (if you don't remember those, they were like denim... Continue Reading →
"...And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes... Continue Reading →
"The time has come to revive an idea that once seemed natural: the student's life as a Christian calling." Dr. Leland Ryken, author and professor, writes this in a chapter that he contributed to Liberal Arts for the Christian Life. For Ryken and many Christian educators (like myself), education is not a season of life meant... Continue Reading →
I really don't like prosperity preachers (do we remember the private jet fundraising debacle?); the worldview they offer is so hollow and contradictory both to Scripture and basic human experience. The biblical narrative is pretty clear: God made all things perfect, the first humans fell from grace in an attempt to become divine themselves, God began... Continue Reading →
Ever since college, really, I have struggled with the tension of being rooted versus being unrooted (not uprooted per se). In college I was in a serious relationship, and when that relationship ended, I realized, looking back, that I was in it for all the wrong reasons. I wanted the perfect, idyllic life (as I saw it).... Continue Reading →
...contentment. I find contentment to be so elusive. It's been that way nearly all my life. You know what? Since I flew to South America in 2014 for ten weeks in Ecuador and Peru, I have not lived in the same place for more than a year (until now). my story In 2014, despite my... Continue Reading →
[This post was featured on The Avenue Church's blog and podcast, For the City.] The word worship elicits all kinds of images. One person may think of pew on pew on pew leading up to a large Gospel choir in the front of the sanctuary. Another person may recall the used and careworn pages of... Continue Reading →
The other day I was tasked with leading a faculty devotional at my school. I decided to put together a small presentation based on Gary Thomas's book Sacred Pathways, a book I read several years ago. Here's the premise of the book, one of Thomas's thoughts in the opening pages: “Expecting all Christians to have... Continue Reading →
