I am naturally a black and white thinker. I thrive on clarity. When I became a Christian in 2011, I headed straight for the theology books. Sin is this, not that. God is like this, not that. We follow God like this, not that. Out of what I believe was a earnest desire to please the Lord, I absorbed convictions from those whose books I read. And then in an equally immature and self-righteous …
I’m a Syncretist
I’m a Bible major with a Missions concentration. But several case studies deep in Theology of Missions, I also realized…I’m a syncretist. Scenario after scenario I was stunned by the problems missionaries faced in their host culture. Men with multiple wives, damaging cultic practices, and strange burial rituals. Then I saw similar situations on the mission field. Haitians mixed Christianity with …
A Poem Based on Psalm 32
I spoke Nothing To no one I writhed My bones rotted My limbs wasted away My body was in pain You placed You hand heavy on me Night and day The sun was drowned in black I acknowledged My sin To you In the open was my guilt You saw My sin All of my deeds And You forgave How much more will I confess if forgiveness is Your response? "Therefore, let every faithful man pray to you …
Sober-minded Suffering
Father, help me understand how to think about suffering. I know it is sinful (but often feels more righteous) to fear suffering. It shows that I know my sin and how hurtful suffering can be. Yet I also know I should not be too confident. Yes, you can meet me with great joy, but you don't always. My overconfidence comes from thinking I will always be joyful in suffering and my fear comes from …
A Blog Post About Blog Posts
Some people love blogs, some people hate them. I have thought long and hard about whether I should even record stuff here. There is a temptation for me to create an image of myself that is unrealistic and self-righteous. I guess my problem with writing on a blog and social media in general is that I control how you see me. I can evaluate a picture or a post and decide whether I want to portray …
To My Fellow White People,
"How would you feel if every time someone who shared your skin color and your history-one that is a history of oppression in this country - was killed, the reaction from the majority class was, 'well, they must have deserved it'?" This is a tweet I read recently and have been thinking about. Mainly because it addresses my own experience. When Mike Brown was killed, I started having conversations …