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The Enneagram—What Is It? (Podcast)
Read more: The Enneagram—What Is It? (Podcast)The Enneagram is a well-known “personality test.” For many, it is used as a simple means of compartmentalizing people. For others, it is a helpful tool to raise personal awareness and promote healthy growth. In this initial episode on the Enneagram, Dr. Josh Carroll, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Brandon Hurlbert, and Rev. Daniel Parham promote…
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PhDs & the Devotional Life (Podcast)
Read more: PhDs & the Devotional Life (Podcast)Getting a PhD is tough. What are the unique challenges that come with getting a PhD in theology? In particular, how can we maintain a vital devotional life in the midst of the stresses of a PhD program? In this episode John Anthony Dunne talks with The Two Cities team member Brandon Hurlbert to discuss…
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How I learned to honor my father and mother
Read more: How I learned to honor my father and motherTo honor one’s father and mother both is one of the Ten Commandments and also squares with the universal moral sense that C.S. Lewis called “the Tao” in his Abolition of Man lectures. It is a tenet of Christian morality that many people obey before they explicitly learn it. Listening to my mother eulogize her adopted father…
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Dickens, Death, and the Christian Christmas
Read more: Dickens, Death, and the Christian ChristmasThis week, a woman at my church faces the harrowing decision between two Christmases. On the one hand, she could join a few friends and the son from which she has been estranged, risking the possibility of running into the guy who things “didn’t work out with.” It would be too uncomfortable for her to ask…
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Reflections of a Recovering Fatalist
Read more: Reflections of a Recovering FatalistI was an athlete growing up, extremely competitive both then and now, and never gave up during any sort of competitive setting no matter how dire the situation was. For whatever reason, this attitude stayed on the field and was entirely vacant for most of my life outside of sports. On the field, I was…
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My Most Difficult Month
Read more: My Most Difficult MonthLately I’ve absent from Two Cities due to some intense life stuff. I wrote this blog trying to process a few things last week. My Facebook friends know the insane details of our difficulty with Melodie’s illness. This is the flip side of what has been happening in my life: Last month was, perhaps, the…
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I Am Not Worthy of God’s Love (or so I think)
Read more: I Am Not Worthy of God’s Love (or so I think)Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. The story of the prodigal son has inspired hope in countless individuals as they have processed their religious experience. Most sermons have incorporated the passage to be primarily directed at Non-Christians, the lost, the unsaved. Some…
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Anxiety and the Exodus
Read more: Anxiety and the ExodusPeople who know me or are even acquainted with me know that I worry—a lot—about almost everything. I become anxious over minor, insignificant matters. I overthink things. I often feel like things “just won’t work out” the way I hoped. Lots of people might be able to relate to this as they struggle with anxiety…
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Reflections on Biola’s Center for Christian Thought Conference on Psychology and Spiritual Formation
Read more: Reflections on Biola’s Center for Christian Thought Conference on Psychology and Spiritual FormationThis past weekend was Biola’s Center for Christian Thought’s Conference on Psychology and Spiritual Formation. While I didn’t get to attend the whole conference, I did get a chance to hear from some amazing and brilliant people like James Houston and Bruce Hindmarsh from Regent College, Robert Emmons from UC Davis, Ellen Charry from Princeton…
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A Needy Jesus
Read more: A Needy JesusToday marks the Day of the Epiphany. While Christmas has come and gone, I’m still going to post about Christ’s incarnation, to continue the reflections on His coming after being reminded by fellow Two Cities bloggers about Epiphany (See King-Ho’s post on “Christmas Eve Beyond Christmas” and Tanner’s post on “Let Christmas Continue“). For the…