Tomorrow, in case you live in a cave, is Valentine’s Day. I was going to be here for you in the matter of unpacking everything goop thinks will make your day super special, but then I came across this piece, and I find myself compelled (probably by God but we can quibble about that later) to provide another, urgent, point of view. Let me set it up by saying that I find myself on many a Sunday afternoon, after church,... Read more
Looks like we have another mini-snowpocalypse. I know this because it is actually snowing and school all over the county has been canceled. Except not for us. School is never canceled for us. Today we will do All The School. And probably all the email that I have backed up. So anyway, since my Tuesday is like my Monday, even though Monday is still totally Monday, I figured, what better than to limp over to twitter for some inspirational #Tuesdaythoughts.... Read more
A little late this morning because Matt is working hard on a funeral sermon, but we did take a short break to talk about Tim Tebow, what it is that God wants to do, how you should talk about hearing the voice of God, how God works out his will in all the important sportsing of America, and how small, exactly, is the box that God lives in. Seriously, what’s so wrong with boxes? I LOVE boxes. Maybe we were... Read more
All week Matt kept up a steady stream of bizarre and crazy news articles flowing into our marital facebook chat. Troubles in Rome, transgender follies, accusations of racism, political insanity, and, to top it all off, on a Saturday night, which is never a good time, a long sickening article about abuse in boarding schools. I try not to read real news at night—not that the morning is any better—lest I find myself unable to sleep. The night is a... Read more
It is a cold and blustery Friday. Are there any takes? Yes there are. First Today is the celebration of the birthday of the baby. Tomorrow is her actual birthday, but some members of the family will not be here, and so we are moving up the ritual birthday luncheon. She ordered peanut sauce (see below), ugali, and some cake or other that she and I will purchase this morning—see archives for cake wrecks and other explanations about why Wegmans... Read more
It’s not my fault. Matt made me stay up late watching the day old State of the Union which means I missed my proper bed time which means I am waking up super long after my usual waking hour which means this whole day is ruined. That is because I am not the kind of person who can alter even a single aspect of the daily schedule and survive in any meaningful sense. I know this because I just spent... Read more
[Jesus excited to see how excited Christians are to talk about him.] This is a most interesting study. According to Barna, almost half of millennial Christians don’t think it is good to ‘evangelize,’ that is, share their faith with others. This is true even though those polled said that knowing Jesus was very important. What immediately interested me was what people on twitter thought about the word ‘evangelism.’ As with everything, it is fine to ask people what they think... Read more
In the midst of all the real news of the weekend, I came across this gem. The title reads (and this charms me so much) Influencer Rachel Hollis Is Facing Accusations She Is Plagiarizing On Her Instagram. Underneath is a nice little tweet that says, “Girl, tell the truth.” Spent a long time repeating the word ‘Influencer’ over to myself for the pure joy of it. I love how malleable and inventive human people are. I mean, there you are,... Read more
Good Morning all. We are stumbling into consciousness after rather a long and disappointing evening—the wrong team won and the advertisements were boring. Nevertheless we have exerted outselves for a rancorous and off kilter complaining podcast about Matt’s twitter argument about the formation of the canon, why he should stop looking at his phone while we are literally trying to talk about who is wrong on the internet, and what is the point of church and preaching. We even answer... Read more
I happened upon a stash of old black and white photographs a few years ago. They weren’t mine. I don’t know whose they were. They were of people I have never met and who probably decades ago died. In the jumble were a couple formal ones of two white young men dressed up, carefully posed, unsmiling, in black face. I stared at them for a long time, shocked, trying to make out the expression in the eyes—an occupation so arresting... Read more
Preventing Grace
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