Bible, theology, culture, etc.
Utopian Sex Each new mornNew widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrowsStrike heaven on the face1 What if they didn’t? Imagine a new morn where… No cries from abused children drift up.No soldiers bleed into the black soil.No sewer waste or plastic rings that strangle sea turtles float in the streams.No parents telling their kids … Continue reading The End of Sex
This article is the second installment. Here is the first. Recap: Living in a democracy during an election means that all of us play some part in election process—even if we vote third party—all of us cast a vote, which means all of us must be prepared to make compromises. How do we know which compromises to make? We … Continue reading Voting in 2024 (Pt. 2)
In Jerry Sittser’s painful memoir, A Grace Disguised, he recounts how suffering can grow your soul. And his words carry a certain heft because he writes from overwhelming firsthand experience. A drunk-driver killed his wife, his mother, and his four-year-old daughter in one tragic accident. The book is an expansive meditation on his own grief, and how … Continue reading You Aren’t Your Feelings
When I lived in Kentucky, our next door neighbor was a woman in her eighties who had raised her children, raised her grandchildren, and was now in the process of raising her great-grandchildren, two scrappy boys; eight and ten-years-old. Their faces were often covered with Cheetos dust; her’s were lined with decades of care and … Continue reading Are You a Victim or Villain?
https://youtu.be/DBDTj76dRBw In Angela Duckworth’s book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, the professor of psychology and MacArthur Fellow argues that hard work and doggedness, in contrast with raw talent, plays a vastly more important role in being successful in life. We tend to assume that successful people are born with innate abilities that average people lack—which … Continue reading A Servant to All (1 Cor 9:19-27)
https://youtu.be/wJn6TLY0n14 True maturity is revealed in the presence of immaturity. If dad sees his child beginning to throw a temper tantrum because she is losing the board game, he condescends to her level, explains how the board game works, reminds her of what good sportsmanship looks like, and encourages her. He probably will hold himself … Continue reading A Model of Maturity (1 Cor 9:1-23)
https://youtu.be/ZO5gJKpMmCE 1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. 4 Therefore, … Continue reading Love Builds Up (1 Cor 8:1-13)
https://youtu.be/6ATYFdo3npo So, here we are, on the cusp of a New Year. We can look back over the last year and kind of evaluate how it went. Did you spend 2023 how you hoped you would? If not, then now is the time to look ahead to the next year. What do you want 2024 … Continue reading Christ Above All (1 Cor 8:6)
https://youtu.be/ArhvgrFFeJw Paige Benton, in an article titled, “Singled Out by God for Good,” opens with this: “Had I any vague premonition of my present plight when I was six, I would have demanded that Stephen Herbison (incontestably the catch of the second grade) put his marriage proposal into writing and have it notarized. I do … Continue reading Singleness and Marriage (1 Cor 7:32-40)
https://youtu.be/LOu-u5m00VU “The days are long, but the years are short.” These are words all parents of young children hear. Usually, it is given by someone older and wiser when the young parent is looking particularly haggard and road weary. The child tries to flush their shoe down the toilet or stick a crayon up their … Continue reading Living Like It’s the End (1 Cor 7:25-31)
Marc Sims 