Finding My Purpose While Lost in the Woods
2 Mar 2023

Finding My Purpose While Lost in the Woods

by | posted in: Explorience, Ponderlust | 0

Sometimes, Jesus does multiply loaves and fishes. Sometimes, he puts booming voices in front of large crowds. Sometimes, lives are changed by words said on bright stages. My life has. I’ve learned over the past few years, though, that Jesus does a lot of work outside of the spotlight. That has proven especially true on my journey with him. Some of the most fulfilling conversations of my years in ministry have happened when hikers’ headlamps have lit up my J7 reflector or R9 sign.

Boundaries? We don’t need no stinkin’ boundaries!
7 Nov 2020

Boundaries? We don’t need no stinkin’ boundaries!

by | posted in: Ponderlust | 0

Doing things God’s way often takes longer and requires more patience. Staying inside Jesus’ cones makes us feel like we’ve lost our autonomy. Going where the Holy Spirit points sometimes doesn’t make sense to us. But I can tell you as someone who has set out cones weekly for a decade, those cones are there for someone’s safety or the community’s benefit—or both.

What COVID Revealed About the American Church
30 Sep 2020

What COVID Revealed About the American Church

by | posted in: Ponderlust | 0

There is a valid lament for losing some of the luxuries of Sunday services, the contagious energy of large gatherings, and the comfort of tangible friendships. We can talk about what we miss, what we long to experience again. When we turn that discomfort into vitriol, we show the world we worship comfort. When we turn public disobedience into a virtue, we put a bushel over our light. When we use our time, energy, and platform to push our wills, we tell our audience who really sits on the throne of our hearts. When a pew position defines our Christianity more than our life the six other days of the week, we don’t have anything worthwhile to offer everyone else that can find their fulfillment in a seat at a stadium or theater, bar or airplane.

Crying for Sunday Afternoons
8 May 2020

Crying for Sunday Afternoons

by | posted in: Ponderlust | 0

That’s the way peace will be made—even if at a glacial pace. That’s the way society will united—or at last some seams repaired. That’s the way wrongs will become right: when we lean into our prejudice and choose what is right. Whether we ever change our culture, we can change our own hearts and maybe the heart of one new friend at a time. Even if at first we hesitate for a second or two, when we choose to do the right thing, we stop the inertia of evil, the progress of hate. It might be awkward or wobbly at first, but we can get where we’re supposed to go. And we can get there with new friends.

Playing Life From the Red Tees
4 May 2020

Playing Life From the Red Tees

by | posted in: Ponderlust | 0

Between you and me, I like the game. Thanks to thousands of dollars a year in free airfare, laughable amounts of serendipity, and incredible friendships, the social media game is one of the few in which I can play at a competitive level. Recently, though, I was confronted about my complicity in the madness. It came from an unlikely place: one of my favorite tracking apps.

One Word We All Long to Hear During This Pandemic
29 Apr 2020

One Word We All Long to Hear During This Pandemic

by | posted in: Ponderlust | 0

Human life has been melted down to data points. People have become percentages. Podcasters, pundits, and peers in my social feeds have openly performed the algebra of how many dollars a human life is worth—whether a person’s continued existence is equal to another person’s business. Our respective mortalities have been reduced to probabilities. Our livelihoods have been dumped into bulk bins of essential and nonessential.

50th Earth Day
22 Apr 2020

50th Earth Day

by | posted in: Explorience, Ponderlust | 0

In contrast, our planet only gives. It’s The Giving Tree times a gazillion. While it groans, it also offers us immutable demonstrations of hope, resilience, and symbiotic relationships. It pushes life literally through cracks of resistance—whether its own rocks or our concrete. Flora covers its scars. Fauna return by instinct. New life constantly arrives as does new adaptation. Somewhere on the planet is already tomorrow, already pulling us forward.

The Right Side of the River
19 Apr 2020

The Right Side of the River

by | posted in: Ponderlust | 0

When I start to grow ungrateful or when my memory fades, he sends me a new reminder of his goodness. He flashes some serendipity. He shows off his sovereignty. He proves his thoughts are higher, his plans better. He lets me revel on one side of the river and then invites me to the other side.

What I Prayed for You This Morning
5 Apr 2020

What I Prayed for You This Morning

by | posted in: Ponderlust | 1

This morning, I was prompted to walk around to the various lots of our church and pray specifically for the distinct populations that fill them. For those of you who attend Blue Ridge, here is what I prayed for you in each of these spots. For those who don’t attend my church, here’s a peek into why the parking lot ministry is so critical to the mission of Jesus.

A Gray Heron Took Me to (Virtual) Church
29 Mar 2020

A Gray Heron Took Me to (Virtual) Church

by | posted in: Ponderlust | 0

For me, it’s a been a hard factory reset on my hardware. It’s led to more time in nature, where I feel Jesus most and closest. It’s asked me how much of my identity is wrapped up in my commercial value and what those paychecks afford. It’s confronted my privilege, my arrogance, my condescension. It’s alerted me that I’m not as good of a friend as I had previously thought. It’s reminded me that I’m not in control.

5 Truths I Collected While Cleaning Up After a Tornado
19 Apr 2018

5 Truths I Collected While Cleaning Up After a Tornado

by | posted in: Ponderlust | 0

Sunday night, an EF2 tornado touched down about 2 miles from my house. 20.4 miles later, after growing into an EF3 tornado, it finally left my community alone. Somehow, only 146 homes sustained substantial damage; and “only” 22 homes were total losses. The storm was was fierce. An artifact from one house was found six miles from its flattened home.

The American Dream® Now Looks Different Than You Remember
29 Mar 2018

The American Dream® Now Looks Different Than You Remember

by | posted in: Explorience, Ponderlust | 0

Over the past several years, The Atlantic, CNBC, CNN, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Forbes, Fortune, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, NBC, Psychology Today, The Telegraph, and Time have all reported on a growing trend in personal finance. Those of us … Continued

The Critical First Step to Accomplishing Your Dreams
17 Mar 2018

The Critical First Step to Accomplishing Your Dreams

by | posted in: Explorience, Ponderlust | 1

The danger comes in the hesitation, the indecision. Analysis paralysis can keep you from getting any of them—like when you spend so much time flipping through the movie options that you end up not watching anything.
Rather than keep scrolling, we must choose a dream or two and jump in. We can always pause or stop later, when we’ve spent more time on the path; but we’ve got to move past the trailhead parking lot.

Carmen Sandiego (And Bagged Concrete) Helped Me Find My True Self
4 Mar 2018

Carmen Sandiego (And Bagged Concrete) Helped Me Find My True Self

by | posted in: Explorience, Ponderlust | 0

When earthquakes or even just tremors rumble, evil offers us distractions as solutions. When hopes tumble and dreams crash, the secular system rushes in a bevy of shoddy options for propping them back up. When life creates a vacuum, our souls seek to fill it with something temporary. Fame and followers. Money and comfort. Control and autonomy. Unquestioned affirmation. If you don’t believe me, you’ve never scrolled through the Search & Explore results on Instagram.

I Love It When God Pulls Out the Overkill
18 Feb 2018

I Love It When God Pulls Out the Overkill

by | posted in: Ponderlust | 0

Being aware of God’s promises and his provision helps us understand the narrative he’s writing, even if we don’t know the next chapter. When he reveals his character, he overpowers our insecurities and confronts our doubt. When he supernaturally interjects sovereign moments into our lives, he’s doing it for our good and his glory.

What a Black Market Shopkeeper Taught Me About Authenticity
6 Feb 2018

What a Black Market Shopkeeper Taught Me About Authenticity

by | posted in: Explorience, Ponderlust | 0

We are surrounded by fakeness, by post-production. We recognize the camera angles that make our butts look rounder, our thighs stand gappier, and our double chins pull taut. “That’s a composite image,” my professional-photographer wife warned, when I showed her a cool outdoors photo on Instagram.

What the NFL Won't Do About Domestic Violence
4 Feb 2018

What the NFL Won't Do About Domestic Violence

by | posted in: Ponderlust, Random Acts of Ryan | 0

Until NFL owners and the NFL Players Association are willing to put less money in their pockets, don’t expect their influence to go much farther than celebrity players recording public service announcements. In the meantime, use the awkward courage the NFL refuses to show. Intervene when you see a friend or family member on the verge of abusing alcohol. You might just be saving another precious someone from a different kind of abuse.

That Time Ron Burgandy Confirmed My Wife Could See Into My Soul
19 Jan 2018

That Time Ron Burgandy Confirmed My Wife Could See Into My Soul

by | posted in: Explorience, Ponderlust | 0

Thankfully, this time, that’s all I want out of the trip. I don’t expect God to change my life. I don’t assume I will find a part of me that was missing. I’m not expecting to uncover an Instagram goldmine or a viral Facebook video. It’s just my version of your trip to Disney World or the Outer Banks or New York City. I’m not trying to compete with my past vacations. I’m just doing me.

What Made Me Sweat Uncomfortably on My Antarctica Trip
18 Dec 2017

What Made Me Sweat Uncomfortably on My Antarctica Trip

by | posted in: Explorience, Ponderlust | 0

Despite the outlandish expense, I don’t regret going to Antarctica. (I know that doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement.) It left indelible marks on me—visually, relationally, and even spiritually. Most importantly, though, it made me aware of the opportunities I have, the options available to me, the choices I can make. It increased the value I place on the free moments I have back home in garages, at tables, in carpools, and around prayer circles. It reminded me how much I love driving in the mountains, paddling in their rivers, and watching the sun set over their silhouettes.

The View from the End of the World
25 Nov 2017

The View from the End of the World

by | posted in: Explorience, Ponderlust | 0

I’m writing from the end of the world to tell you it’s not what you or I think it is. First, wherever you and I find ourselves is not the end. Second, it’s the gateway to beautiful progress. I anticipate that it’s also the preface to some incredible stories—or at least inspiring chapters in the story God’s writing for us and for the world.

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