Watching the devastation sweep over Japan has convinced me of a few things: that we are sheltered, comfortable and safe. As our brothers and sisters have their houses ripped away from them, we have ours still, and likely heated to the temperatures we want them to be. This dichotomy is no fault of our own, but our response to the gaping gap of comfort is entirely our responsibility. So, in the same vein of what we discussed earlier, let’s become... Read more

So, now comes the time when everyone tells you, “Lent isn’t just about giving things up, it’s about taking things on. Think about what you can do, not what you can remove from your life.” Which is all fine and dandy, to be sure, but also stupid. Mortification is important. Mortification is what’s necessary. I want a bumper sticker that says “Put the pain back in Lent!” or “Self-denial is the reason for the season!” Just because it would shake... Read more

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, I was skiing. Really! See there I am, skiing my heart out, far, far, far too busy to post on BadCatholic. But what goes skiing must come back and post, which I understand to be a wise saying, and so watch this. Jon Stewart is the man. He points out that no one likes the right/left polarization of the media, just as no one likes the right/left polarization of the country.... Read more

I find that if a phrase seems beautiful and poetic, it is usually not considered so because of a well-placed inflection, a mere complex wording or surprising diction, but because it strikes a truth that our hearts know, but our minds are not aware of. After all, if we are made in the image and likeness of God then we have hearts shaped with divine truths, and souls molded with the answers to questions the brain asks. Thus it is... Read more

For all the absolutely millions of acres of millions of things a man can do – from being joyful, to dancing, to learning to play the sitar, from reading the dictionary to blowing up his car – there are only ten forbidden. This is no strictness, these forbidden ten, but a generosity and an easiness so immense it may only be described as divine. God  is the dad who takes his kids to the playground: “don’t hurt yourself, and don’t pee on... Read more

So there I was, washing dishes, getting chicken grease off of industrial sized pans, when a friend mentioned that her father was writing a book. Me: Yeah, what’s it called?Her: Calvinism and the Doctrine of Grace.Me: You’re one of those lucky, pre-destined few?Her: Yeah, I’m one of the elect.Me. Cool. Well I guess that’s cooler than being an Evangelical.Her: I am an evangelical!Me. Ah. I meant Baptist, it’s better than being a Baptist.Her: I am a Baptist! I’m a Reformed... Read more

To think of the end of the world as an event frightening and distant is to think a boring thought, one that will make a man weary of existence, akin to viewing Christmas with a hostile suspicion, or a birthday with twinges of fear. For the truth – if we are happy enough to admit it – is that every man reaches the end of his world within his own lifetime, not a moment too soon and not a moment... Read more

To say what you’re going through is but the dark before the dawn would make some sense, but would have you as a mere placid sky-watcher, an observer of celestial events over which you have no control. And besides, I think I better understand now — the desire to build your faith and your life elsewhere is not so much a darkness as a competing light, one I cannot help but think of as a flickering, phosphorescent bulb that lines... Read more