Nine Day Hiking and Campus Visit Trip: Part 1, Packing
This is how I thought about what to pack for a nine-day road trip for on-campus grad school classes.
Travel as Church
It was something about praying for America. There was a time in my life when I would feel like I was a secret cousin to whoever put up that sticker. We’re both Christians! Now, stickers like that make my gut clench.
The Misery of High-Waisted Pants
Although there is no comfort like that of custom-fitted clothing, I long for the day when I can just buy comfortable clothes when I need them.
Delight as Worship
Even though I’m not a scientist and I know far less about the natural world than many of the others in the group, I love being with them because of the open delight. I can’t think of anything else I’ve done where adults unapologetically give themselves over to joy. But What About In Church?
On Teaching Biblical Languages
In all of my experiences formally studying a language, the one constant is that it feels like the class is designed to meet a checklist rather than to create an environment for learning. To paraphrase my orchestration professor, you can water all you want, but the plant will grow when it grows. In other words, you can do all the homework and review and drills you want, but the concepts will click and the words transfer to long-term memory on a timeline that is not always within the student’s control.
An Unintended Consequence
I had been raised on “no one can make you feel bad except yourself,” … With all that trained into me as if the claims were as true as the rule of gravity, I was flummoxed at why I couldn’t just change my perception and then have a clear mind and feel happy.
Cultivating Imagination
I’ve occasionally had conversations with people who say they like movies better than books because they can actually see what happens. These same people don’t like closed-door scenes because even though they understand what is implied, they say that without seeing it, they don’t know what happens. They say it makes it more real to actually see the action rather than having to imagine it from implication.
This Is More Than Fear
This is more than fear Each responding without thought To some past violence so cruel I gag to imagine.
Violets, Dandelions, and White Clover
Do you see yourself as a white clover, dandelion, or violet at church?
Meditation on Light
I wrote a piano piece designed to improvise around a short theme and called it Meditation on Light…Then I wrote a reflection (or poem or whatever term you want to use).
Consent in Church
My challenge to church leaders and attendees is to start openly talking about the fact that church culture coerces people into experiences that the person does not consent to have.
How to Make Candles from Used Wax
With wax melts, the scent eventually goes away or becomes subtle enough that I want to use new cubes. For candles, no matter what I do, there is always some amount of tunneling. What to do with the leftover wax?
Money: The Helpers and Givers
The challenge for the money helper type is to give generously because they care for their neighbor, but not because they are trying to manipulate others into liking them.
Money: The Savers and Planners
Christians say that often: Everything comes from God. Is that true or is it just something we say that is a distortion of the truth?
On the Danger of Education
Education is dangerous, y’all. It changes lives for the better. And that is bad for those who want unquestioning, complete obedience.
Book Reflection: Warrior Girl by Carmen Tafolla
Am I a bad person
Because I care
What others think?
Feel more brave
When someone says,
“You can do this”?
Book Review: Money and Possessions
The problem is looking a poor person in the eye and saying, “Money is a gift from God.” To which they will naturally reply, “So why didn’t God see fit to gift me with enough?” And just like that, the conversation lands in the complex territory of sin, free will, and God’s sovereignty.
Book Review: For the Love of Women
For the Love of Women by Dorothy Littell Greco (2025) is an accessible presentation on how misogyny is alive and well throughout US culture. With 39 pages of end-note citations, this book is not unsubstantiated opinion.