Latest Posts
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Living with Clutter
Read more: Living with ClutterCollecting Clutter I have moved a lot in my life. I do not recall some of my initial moving around when I was young. I was born in Iowa and we moved to Virginia shortly thereafter. Within a few years, when I was around four years old, we moved to California. I lived in the…
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On PhD Bookends: My Most Stressful Travel Stories (Part 1 of 2)
Read more: On PhD Bookends: My Most Stressful Travel Stories (Part 1 of 2)Two weeks ago today I graduated with my PhD from the University of St Andrews. Being back in St Andrews was a wonderful experience. It was great to be able to show my parents around for the first time. As I was retracing my steps and hitting up all of my favorite places around town…
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On Travel, the Limits of Language and Being Known
Read more: On Travel, the Limits of Language and Being KnownThis summer for me has been one of language learning and travel to foreign countries — an experience that continues to bring home for me the difficulties involved with human communication. It is hard enough to complete a shopping transaction in a foreign language let alone present a lecture or tell someone how I am…
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Shepherding the Lost
Read more: Shepherding the LostFor a flock of sheep, the shepherd is an important figure. Without a leader, the sheep would live aimlessly, only doing what is necessary for survival. This is a wonderful reflection of church structure and the necessity for not just a strong leader; but more importantly, an even greater Shepherd to guide all processes. I…
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Sing the Ascension
Read more: Sing the AscensionWe believe what we sing, so it’s important to sing the most important doctrines of our faith. But I don’t think we give Jesus’ ascension the attention it deserves. Here is a beautiful hymn text that considers the Ascension biblically, theologically, and with implications for our lives, below with my comments: The author introduces us to…
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Harry Potter: Worse Things than Death, Better Things than Life
Read more: Harry Potter: Worse Things than Death, Better Things than Life[If you haven’t read Harry Potter, don’t read this post. Exit out of it and buy the first book here]. This week was the anniversary of when Harry Potter and his friends entered the department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic (in Order of the Phoenix). It is by far my favorite scene in the…
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Augustine’s Trinity, Perelandra’s Vanity, and the Spirit of Unity
Read more: Augustine’s Trinity, Perelandra’s Vanity, and the Spirit of Unity“Probably not pastoral.” I scribbled this note in the margins of Book IX of Augustine’s On the Trinity. He was in the middle of some obscure-sounding argument that the Trinity makes sense of the biblical idea that “God is love.” Because the act of love, “involves three things… a person who loves, that which is loved,…
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God’s Faithfulness in the Midst of Our Faithless Felonies
Read more: God’s Faithfulness in the Midst of Our Faithless Felonies1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. What’s one defining characteristic the whole world has in common? We seem to have a rather unhealthy appetite for sinning in many awful, albeit often creative, ways. Maybe it was lying to…
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Where did Christian Baptism Come From?
Read more: Where did Christian Baptism Come From?Question of Origins What are the origins of Christian baptism? A quick perusal of the biblical texts might leave one perplexed as to the sudden appearance of baptism in the New Testament.1 Immediately and without explanation one is confronted with the appearance of John “the Baptist” and the practice of baptizing in water (Matt 3:1ff).…
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All We Have is Death and Hope
Read more: All We Have is Death and HopeThis past week has been tough. Orlando, Paris, Tel Aviv, and many others have been a constant source of tears, heartache and mourning for the global community I know for me, death has hit home in a different way. Last week, my Grandma passed away at 89 years old. She was an amazing woman who was…