Everything ever made by any human being is simply an organization or reordering of that which is already inherently possible within the universe.  No one says “bippidy boppidy boo, here’s an iphone.”  Somebody figured out how to get this rock out of the earth, melt it down and combine it with this other rock, shape it like this, put this other sort of thing we found in the earth over the top of it, shoot this piece of metal from the earth up into the sky…etc After enough of this, you p...

In this holy week, I am thinking of Jesus and what must have been going on inside him as he moved towards the cross.  In John 17, we find an intimate prayer between Jesus and his Father only moments before he was arrested. In this prayer, these epic, last moments before he is killed, he prays for those of us who would believe in him in the future.  Jesus.  Praying for us in these final moments of what must have been tremendous fear and agony.  This is pretty amazing.  And what does he sa...

Ok, so I guess I should update the blog with the fact that I have read Love Wins at this point as well as both supporting and refuting arguments from different people about it.  And my conclusion…?  I’m sad. I’m sad that the people that claim to follow Jesus are so divided against each other.  I’m sad that so much of Christianity has become about ideas and systems and theologies rather than about celebrating and moving towards the miracle, the event, the life-changing reality that ...

Male/Female.  Republican/Democrat.  Smoker/Non-smoker.  Christian/Non-Christian.  Catholic/Protestant.  Calvinist/Arminian. There are so many dualities that we often feel like we have to categorize ourselves into.  I wonder if it’s because choosing between two options is, well, simple.  If you don’t want women to have abortions, well then you must be a Republican.   If you really care about taking care of poor people or the environment, well then you must be a Democrat. The th...

It may be a nice idea to say that experiencing and encountering Reality is more important than trying to understand it, but how does that actually happen?  How does one encounter God? I feel like I’d like to address this in two ways.  First, I think that Reality is experienced on some level by everybody all of the time.  When that piece of music moves your heart, God is in that somehow.  That feeling of grandeur and transcendent beauty that one gets when one looks up at the night sky, t...