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As a child I held this view of heaven locked in my mind. I spent nights thinking on it; and dreaming about it, and felt certain that whatever was coming wouldn't be good. My picture of God cemented, and I thought I knew what was in store for us at the end. Spoiler, I didn't think it would be good. It might have been some well-meaning children's books, or sermons I listened to—or just an overactive…
This week I've been thinking about truth. Spurred by a fantastic church discussion, a bunch of thoughts have rattled around in my mind over the last few days. What is truth? Is it absolute? Is it relative? Ultimately we'll each come to a conclusion based on our own lived experience. For me, I've had major shifts in perspectives over my life that influence how I approach truth. I used to think I…
We live in a world that—to my senses, is increasingly speeding up. I can't say that it is definitively, at least not from a researched analytical perspective. But in terms of how my body feels? Things are moving faster than ever. In my work, in the field of technology where I've spent the last two decades, there's an ever increasing demand for more productivity, a need to 10x results, often…
This week has been hard. People are hurting. Some that we know, but many more that we can only see from a distance. It hasn't been an easy week, month, year, or decade. In some ways it's always been like this. As a fan of history I can look back and see proof after proof of people in pain, and suffering abounding. But right now, at this moment, the experience I live is real; it's not in the past,…
How do we deal with doubt about our faith? Over the years I've learned that doubt doesn't have to be the enemy of faith. It can open the door to deeper connections to Jesus. My life has been a mix of questioning, believing, seeking to understand, and ultimately wrestling between what I can see and what I can't see. As a child I prayed for something, a sign, a moment with Jesus, confirmation I can…
Last night my wife and I watched the latest installment of the Benoit Blanc chronicles, otherwise known as Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery by Rian Johnson. We really enjoyed the previous two films, and were excited to dive into the next installment featuring Daniel Craig as an over the top detective. What I wasn't expecting was a deep exposition into the tenets of faith, belief, and…
I've struggled my whole life with conflicting messages I've heard about God's attention toward us. On the one hand I grew up hearing stories of Jesus coming as our Savior, our Prince of Peace, our Messiah. He described himself as a mother hen, a shepherd, a searcher of lost coins; all positive ways of seeing our relationship to God. These stories inspired me and made me curious about what it'd…
Recently we invited a guest speaker, Jeffrey Rosario, to our church to talk about the history of Christian nationalism, where it came from, and how it's impacted the world and our culture today. It was a special weekend, with amazing food, time to connect with community, and a drawing closer to the Jesus I love. The entire series is worth watching . The biggest takeaway, which has been deeply…
As a child I lived in terror of the judgement; maybe it was because of the blue and red children's Bible story books we read as kids, the comments I heard in the foyer at church, or teachings from devoted and well meaning Bible teachers. I spent many nights imagining the seat of judgement at the end of days. I saw myself standing in a row, waiting behind a long snaking line of people walking up to…
As a young man I heard an oft repeated idea. Love, as a concept within Christianity, was a simple doctrine that existed as a baseline to rise above. It was discounted as a milk doctrine. Yes, that’s all fine and good that you focus on God’s love—or so the story would go—but let’s move past that to the weightier, more meaty, matters, such as the law, God’s divine sovereignty, the weightiness of…