A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma...
About Sam Bush
-
A Pandemic of Shame: Seeking Refuge From Online Anger
With studies showing a dramatic increase in social-media use during the pandemic, people have taken to the virtual streets, but it’s not exactly what you’d call a block party. Such is the focus of D. T. Max’s recent article in the New Yorker, “The Public-Shaming Pandemic,” about how people who have accidentally spread the coronavirus […]
Settling into the Strangeness: Pandemic Life as Exile
Everyone is born a king, and most people die in exile. – Oscar Wilde With each passing season, the pandemic somehow feels fresh and new as it claims yet another area of life that had been previously untouched. This year’s Easter, lacking its usual fanfare, somberly came and went. Months later, a gloomy Fourth of […]
The God of Surprises
Last month, John Dickerson wrote an article in the Atlantic in which he discusses the inevitable surprises of a president’s tenure. Without fail, a sitting president will undergo something completely unexpected, during which their entire legacy will be tested. It’s a fascinating, historical take on the age-old joke, “If you want to hear God laugh, […]
When Christians Sing of Hope: Glenn Packiam’s Worship and the World to Come
Among the positive effects of quarantine is a refocusing on what is temporal and what is eternal. Remember the Iowa Caucus? Remember the Oscars drama from last year? Neither do I. The unrelenting passage of time will always remind us that most of our concerns don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but something […]
Deferred Maintenance: Finding God in the Breakdown Lane
Earlier this week, right before dinner time, our refrigerator started to sound slightly off. Its normal low purr became something of a soft wheeze. When my wife made a passing remark about it, I shot back, “It’s fine! I think it does that sometimes,” as if I were defending the fridge for having been personally […]
Watching Alone Together: What a Survival Show Taught Me About Quarantine
If there’s one common thread among quarantine experiences these days, it is the feeling of being stuck inside one’s head. As long as your physical survival is not in immediate danger, there is plenty of space to dwell on the hypothetical world of regrets and what-if scenarios. I, for one, have been languishing for months […]
Please Scream Inside Your Heart
A couple weeks ago the Wall Street Journal wrote about how several theme parks in Japan have recently reopened, but in an effort to keep the coronavirus contained, they’ve banned screaming on roller coasters. To enforce this no-screaming policy, their message is this: “Please scream inside your heart.” Of course, it didn’t take long for […]
Blame and Denial from Lisbon to Florida: The Solid Ground of Christian Hope
As an unseen virus is threatening our very existence and as people strongly disagree on how best to respond to it, people throw around the word “unprecedented” a little too easily. COVID is new, but people are not. We’ve been here before, if we care to remember. In the fall of 1755, a terrible earthquake […]
Just Mercy (and Chocolate Milkshakes)
For the past few years, so many people have suggested I read the book Just Mercy that I became determined to never read it, as an act of defiance. All I can say is that I’m thankful I finally joined the parade. The 2014 bestseller is the remarkable story of Bryan Stevenson, a young attorney […]
Tell Me Exactly What To Do (And I Will Do the Opposite): A Brief History of Advice
“How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice, when they will not so much as take warning?” – Jonathan Swift I’ll always remember our wedding caterer telling me and my wife that, if we wanted to make sure our reception ran smoothly, we would assign a master of ceremonies. “People like to […]
Sticking Our Necks Out: Judgement in the Age of COVID Phases
Confessing Quarantine Sins and Looking to Hope beyond Sanitation
God of Our (Lonely) Fathers
John Mulaney on the Self-Secluding Modern Man, and the “Damnedest” Father-Son Relationship
Contact
![A Review of <i>A Woman’s Place</i> [From a Man’s Perspective]](https://mbird.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/25496082203_af8edfbf05_z-60x60.jpg)
