Roars and Whispers from The Lion of Judah
5 Dec 2020

Roars and Whispers from The Lion of Judah

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Emily—speaking for Jesus—told me that I didn’t have to do anything more to live up to the honor she and Zach gave me. So, I won’t try to earn something they have already freely given. But I’m going to live as though my name is good enough for two people, because apparently it is. I’m going to lean into life with the confidence of someone whose legacy won’t just outlive him but will walk around with it on two legs. I’m going to chase life and legacy with a roar, and I’m going to teach a lion cub how to get his shouts to reverberate louder than the echoes of his uncle.

YouVersion, Chuck Norris, and the Largest Army on the Planet
9 Nov 2020

YouVersion, Chuck Norris, and the Largest Army on the Planet

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In the New Testament, we learn that God is love. Not just lovely. Not just loving. He is inherently the definition of love. This love must be fierce, then. It must be ready to fight for what and who God loves. That love goes to war for justice. That love battles for the restoration of broken things. That love boasts a plethora of reinforcements to resist the forces that scheme for our depression and aggression. That love engages with the enemies of truth and life. That love deploys against the marauders that raid our hearts and souls. That love fires back at the giants who intimidate us and bind us in fear.

Four Miles for Jesus
25 Oct 2020

Four Miles for Jesus

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If that’s a mile too far, I’d ask whether you’re a fan of Jesus or a follower. If these temporary restrictions are unbearable, I’d ask whether your greater identity is anchored in the Bill of Rights or the Gospel. If church for you is just sitting in rows on a Sunday or chatting with friends in its foyer, I’d invite you to imagine that church can be more. Much more. And it’s only two miles from where you’re standing right now.

Apparently, I Am No Longer a (Good) Christian
14 Oct 2020

Apparently, I Am No Longer a (Good) Christian

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I still believe that Jesus and his church are the hope of the world—not just my country, all nations. I’m not going to abandon my pursuit of the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I’m not going to quit trying to be more like him and to exemplify more each day the fruit of his spirit. I’m just not keen to identify myself as a Christian, because that word apparently now means a lot of things opposite to what it originally did.

A Ghost From 1986 & An Orange Shark
23 Sep 2020

A Ghost From 1986 & An Orange Shark

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We all want to be seen on our level. We all want the big people in our world to smile at us, to lower their faces to ours, to affirm our efforts. We want those further along in life to talk with us as equals. We want those who seem all done—all grown up—to treat us like we are, too. This undercurrent keeps social media afloat. These desires lead to car payments and mortgages beyond prudence. These insecurities can push us to constructive self-improvement or inauthentic personas, hard work or cheating, striving or faking.

What Should I Do After I “Never Forget”?
11 Sep 2020

What Should I Do After I “Never Forget”?

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I’m still proud of my country. I still hate that thousands of innocent and heroic people died that day. I’m still amazed at the incredible character and sacrifice of those who ran toward danger rather than away—both at the sites of the attacks and later on foreign soil. I still understand why our elected officials made the decisions they did after the coordinated foreign attacks. But I don’t want to remember the same things my Facebook connections do about September 11. Even more, I wish the world had heard something very different from America than they have over the past 19 years.

The Blue Subaru at My Counselor’s Office
9 Sep 2020

The Blue Subaru at My Counselor’s Office

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An Old Testament prophet claimed that God wants to remove our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh. He wants to make us more human, more in touch with how love and grace feel both to give and receive. He is revealing that intent and process at my counselor’s office. He is using hours in my sister’s passenger seat and at cafe tables to show me his heart—the prototype. He’s proving his adjacency on dusty trails, in cold streams, and in precipices overlooking summer lightning storms. And even in a tall station wagon parked next to mine outside a nondescript office building.

My Last Church Service with a Worship Feeder
23 Aug 2020

My Last Church Service with a Worship Feeder

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Before meeting Todd, I’d never been in a service where the person leading music checked out of their “duty” and just prayed on their knees until the instruments stopped. I’d never seen someone walk off the stage to comfort someone during a song. I’d never seen someone put down their mic and their ego and then shout praise or whisper prayers while everyone else kept singing. Years after these firsts, Todd lost his voice and still led our church services—just with his mic muted during the music. In every other church I’ve attended, I’d never seen anything like that. That role went to the person with the best voice, the most musical experience, or someone with the pedigree of specific liturgical castes.

Fighting Fire with Posture
29 Jun 2020

Fighting Fire with Posture

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When my heart wants to stand and demand others to conform to my wishes and my worldview, I need to get low. To listen. To ask questions. To read or watch or listen to voices different than my own. I need to hold my hands open and relinquish my ego. I need to recognize the trauma or influences that have shaped others, and I need to admit I’m a product of the same.

The Weirdest Verse in the Bible
2 Jan 2020

The Weirdest Verse in the Bible

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But I’m burying the lead. Let’s not gloss over an important part of this rule: it was transcribed in the Bible. Not a fan fiction version of the Bible. The real-deal holy book. I’ve attended more than 5,000 church, chapel, and Bible class sessions and have never heard this addressed once by the person at the front of the room. Religion seems to focus on the more Flannelgraphable passages of the Bible.

Finding Myself in Other People’s Words
20 Dec 2019

Finding Myself in Other People’s Words

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If you’re looking for a theme to connect a lot of these titles, it would be self discovery. Many of these books describe personal journeys that led the authors to a better grasp of who they are and/or who God is, and how all of that intersects with cultural realities. That’s been indicative of my year, too.

The Day My Boyhood Dream Came True
8 Dec 2019

The Day My Boyhood Dream Came True

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Colin McRae (the youngest to win the World Rally Championship Drivers’ title) said, “Straight roads are for fast cars. Turns are for fast drivers.” For one gloriously-rainy Saturday in Snoqualmie, Washington, I got a chance to be humbled in the dirt, mud, and gravel of some slippery turns.

The Night God Welcomed Me Into Darkness
1 Dec 2019

The Night God Welcomed Me Into Darkness

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I walk in this darkness with “a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.” I have access to the source of all light, the genesis of all triumph, the fountain of all good things. His rivers flow in the dark. His waterfalls pound boulders whether tourists watch or not. His tides rise and fall without intervention. His purview surpasses my imagination.

The False Dichotomy Tearing Apart the American Church
26 Oct 2019

The False Dichotomy Tearing Apart the American Church

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Thankfully, all of us also hold enough of the antidote to heal both ourselves and the people in our lives. We can neuter the algorithm by not running it on our hard drives. We can ask questions instead of making assumptions. We can trade arrogance out for humility. We can make room for options like both and neither and somewhere-in-between. We can walk right up to nuance instead of staring at it through rifle scopes.

An Adventure in Paradise Valley
23 Sep 2019

An Adventure in Paradise Valley

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I’m glad I had these guys around me as I learned how to fly fish. They showed me a lot of patience. They answered a preschooler’s worth of “Why is that?” and “What does [that term] mean?” questions. They treated me as an equal and welcomed me with open arms into the fly fishing brotherhood.

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