Christopher's Meanderings

The other night I was literally the only paying person at a show.  It was a really, really good show.  The band was playing for me, the bar tend, the opening band and the sound man.  There are a number of things I could say about this, but it got me thinking about one thing- grace. Much can be said about the difference between grace and mercy.  It's already been done though.  Suffice it to say, grace is favor given without a necessary reason.  These guys could have played a very short set. They would have been well within their rights to do so. They didn't. I don't know if they were just practicing and hoping some more people would come up, check them out and stay, or what... In any case, they played a decent set, had some fun with it, and sounded great.  I don't know if meant anything to anyone else in the room or not, but it meant a lot to me.   Grace arrives in unexpected ways daily for me.  Sometimes those ways are small. Sometimes they a...

If you can't tell (whoever reads this?), I took quite a break from blogging.  I was thinking through a lot of things for quite a long time.  I'm still thinking through those things. I'm still not settled in any sense of the word.  However, I am ready to get back at it.  I am ready to try writing again.   Part of what rang through my head for a long time was a lone lyric and melody line from a Deathcab for Cutie song.  The song was "The Sound of Settling." I am only vaguely aware of what the song is actually about.  The reason this song kept coming back to me is that I felt like a failure; the song reminded me of my perceived failings.  I still feel like a failure.  There are days when I just don't want to move.  Today happens to be one of those days.  I got up anyway.  I get up each day anyway.   In the past, there would be days when my body got up, but my soul didn't. It was down for the count.   And that's where I r...

It's that time of year again. We will all get our fill of interpretations of Jesus over the next few weeks. It's inevitable- every Easter we hear some new or re-imagined life of Christ which attempts to show how he was different than our preconceived ideas of him. Mostly, these special articles, tv programs, and lectures serve to show how orthodox Christians are wrong in some way and need to convert to the newer paradigm. I'm kind of tired of these. Everyone has an agenda anymore it seems. I used to care a lot more about all of these ideas. Many of the best writers have compelling stories to tell. It's just that the coherence seems to come apart. I just don't care that much anymore. It's not as if I don't have doubts. I do. I doubt a lot of things, but when I come back to Jesus, I keep discovering a compelling and believable story. Doubt has been healthy to my faith. Learning and exploring different ideas is challenging and interesting. It...

I saw this yesterday and thought I would mention something about it today. A man in Tennessee quit his job because he received a W-2 with the number 666 on it. Setting aside the various textual problems with the number itself, there a few things I wish Christians would keep in mind when reading and applying the Bible. First, the book of Revelation is Apocalyptic literature.  It doesn't take a lot of studying to figure out almost everything in the book is symbolic or figurative of some other thing.  When and if there is a literal number of the beast, it probably won't actually be 666 -enough said on the particulars of this case. Second, we absolutely must be aware of different genres in the Bible. This goes for every single book. We can't read a letter the same way we read a psalm or history or love songs or you get the point... Third, we must leave behind as many of our presuppositions as possible when we come to the biblical text and then apply it to our life. ...

It amazes me how many times I have to explain this concept to my four year old son. The distinction between obedience and disobedience blurs all too quickly for him. Even when there are clear consequences and privileges for disobedience and obedience, he often chooses the disobedient path. I must admit I blur the lines in my own life. I can't claim to be a four year old though. Sometimes it feels as if I am just a young boy, but that is usually due to my own foolishness. As James would say, "I know the good I should do, and yet I fail to do it." (James 4:17, my own paraphrase). Why is obedience so hard? Especially when we know the consequences will not and cannot be good for us? It's a heart issue. We want to be masters of our world. We want to have control. It feels so much more satisfying, or at least we think so, to have control over our own little slice of the universe. Disobedience allows us to assert this dominance over our slice. After all, I ...

Being content is a full time enterprise. Seriously, if I don't work at being content, then I start to get distracted by temptations on every side. A few (mostly) silly examples: Toys - Is there a new Star Wars Lego set out? Cool, let's go look at it at Soren (and try to convince mommy we should buy it)! Games - That new board game takes 5 hours to play and some of the instructions are in Latin? I can't wait to buy it and play it one time before putting in the closet forever! Activities - I have been doing this same activity for 2 months now? I really need to start something new! How about Zoomba! Food - I've eaten beans twice this month? I need to eat the newest food craze now! This week I talked to my students about being grateful. Thanksgiving provokes us to think about thankfulness, contentedness, and gratefulness. As I studied for the lesson I encountered a familiar problem. The text showed me I needed to make a change in my own life. Prepar...

This is my old set up from my guitar pedal board. I'm a youth minister, but I have also been a participating worship leader in some respect for the last 15 years.  The worship wars have been going on for some time now.  I am probably not the only person annoyed by them.  The presidential election provoked my thinking about a lot of things, and worship happened to be one of those things. Christians on every side of every issue were ranting and raving about their side last Tuesday- whether it was winning or losing. Here is one example of someone I assume is a Christian doing that in a public way.  I want to set the baseline here and then get to the stuff I want to share. First of all, I think both our politics and our worship have serious implications for the rest of our lives. I voted on Tuesday. I am not telling anyone (including my wife) how I voted for any issue, but I did vote.  I did so because I truly believe our politics have serious real world co...