Christmas is, as we say in our household, the season of BIG FEELINGS. Expect all of them from your spouse. And from yourself. Without judgement. The other night I realized our daughter called thermometers “mothers,” and I could not find a suitable amount of Kleenex. My husband looked perplexed and said, “Are you sure that […]
Best Couple Ever
The following comes to us from Will Ryan: My wife and I met when we were both going to seminary at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth. After we became engaged, we decided to get married in Texas because it would be easiest. Texas has a law/rule when it comes to marriage licenses: if you […]
Connection
For 30 years, I have designed places for people to live when they are at the edge of coping. When creating anything, knowing those who will use the creation makes the creation better. This year, I have been part of an effort to make a safe harbor for the young who are lost. Listening to […]
Therapy Time with Davie504
If you are not familiar with famous YouTuber Davie504, just ask one of the youth in your life and chances are they will know who you’re talking about. Davie504 is the smartest bass player in the world. Although the bass is not an instrument that gets a lot of attention, somehow Davie504 has created a […]
PZ’s Podcast: Achilles Heel; They Came from Beyond Space; Listen to the Music; Sine Qua Non; and Julie, Do You Love Me
Episode 283: Achilles Heel It seems that human nature, or rather, one’s understanding of human nature, is the Achilles Heel of theology — and philosophy, too — throughout the “Spin-Me-Round” (Dead or Alive, 1985) of cyclical human history and cyclical failed answers to the problem of being human. If you have a high doctrine of […]
Marriage Tips from SeaWorld
I’ll admit it — my first read of this article caused me to conjure up a pretty unattractive picture of myself. I, the seal, clapping my fins together, while my wife stands at the edge of the pool, poised to drop a fish in my mouth. But when I read a second time Amy Sutherland’s […]
From The New Yorker
File this one under the #seculosity of romance:
Bayesian Theology or: How I Learned to Loosen a Doctrinal Death Grip and Love Statistical Thinking
This one comes to us from Rob Munk. Halfway through 2017, I met the woman I plan to marry. We bonded over pancakes at a greasy-spoon diner on our first date. She was Anglican; I was Lutheran. It was a match in high-church Protestant heaven. But like many Christian couples, we had our share of […]
Alchemy in Grief
One of the recurring emotions families experience in the midst of grief is guilt. They feel guilty about “things done or left undone.” They feel guilty about still being alive. When my dad’s mother was dying of pancreatic cancer, he was just a teenager. He once told me how he avoided her room during the […]
Right: An Unspoken Sermon
This one comes to us from Alan Jacobs. Anthony Trollope’s novel He Knew He Was Right is, like Shakespeare’s Othello, a story of jealousy. But not really. Its true subject is something far worse, and far more common, than jealousy. And if we understand the real point of the story, we’ll understand something about Christian […]
Are Friends Electric? And Is Grace Digital?
This one’s especially for Andy, Anna, Blake, Caleb, Chris, Jeff, Kristin, Nathan, Reed, and Trevor. It seems like a hilariously ironic turn of Providence that I who have been so deeply suspicious of connectivity through electronic media and its pernicious (albeit often unintended) consequences should find the friends I am most in touch with, most […]
The Failure to Find a Soulmate
As a single person, the marriage grass often looks so lush and green and inviting. If I can find a The One who’s willing to put up with me “til death do us part,” then all of my problems will be solved, and we’ll live happily ever after, right? But then I get a phone […]
