Spilled Coffee on Ancient Scrolls
Finding Ways to Live as Humans Fully Alive
Listen to this post! When I feel the need to get away from emails and grading and endless meetings, I drive to Abilene State Park and walk the nature trail. If it has been an especially stressful week, I might walk the roads afterwards, with may hands clutched behind my back while my mind ruminates …
for forty yearsthe sheets of white paper havepassed under my hands and I have tried to improve their peacefulemptiness putting downlittle curls little shaftsof letters words little flames leaping "Forty Years,” by Mary Oliver Writing really is amazing. Somehow these squiggly lines convey information that has allowed humanity to rise out of the field and …
Continue reading "The First Word Ever: A Journal Reflection"
The first prayer I remember praying as a child was this: Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.If I should die before I wake. I pray the Lord my soul to take.God bless mommy and daddy and puppy.... And on occasions, before going to sleep at night, …
So take good care of your time. Watch how you spend it, for nothing is more precious. In the twinkling of an eye, heaven can be won or lost. Here’s how we know time is precious. God, the giver of time, never gives us two moments simultaneously; instead, he gives them to us one after …
Is it just me, or does it seem like anger and righteous indignation is the default state of things in our world? I’d go so far as to say that in some circles, the attitude is that if you aren’t raging against the machine in some way, then there is something wrong with you. I …
Patrick is one of those ancient saints who became larger than life. His charismatic personality and scant material about his life motivated many later biographers to colorfully fill in the gaps. And thus rose legends about Patrick where he performed fantastic miracles, including driving out all the snakes from Ireland and single handedly defeating the …
Continue reading "Snakes and Green Beer: The Real Saint Patrick"
At the age of five, George Johnson gave his son Willie a gift that would change his life—a cigar box guitar. As Willie picked it up and began strumming, it soon became apparent that he had a gift. A couple of years later, Willie’s stepmother was caught cheating, and his father beat her out of …
Many people have this monolithic notion about Christianity—that it has been the same since Jesus and Paul walked the earth. But the truth of the matter is that the Church has often changed its mind on what it deems to be the essential elements of faith. One way to look at this is to ask, …
Continue reading "Mere Christianity: What Has it Been And What is it Now?"
This summer I decided to give podcasting a try as another element of this site, so I created, "Professors Talking Skubala." If you are a Greek student, you are probably chuckling to yourself right now. "Skubala" is the Greek word Paul uses in Philippians 3:8 that is usually politely translated, "rubbish," but it actually is …
A while back a wonderful movie came out starring Robin Williams entitled “Dead Poet’s Society,” where Williams played an English teacher named John Keating who attempted to get his class of young boys interested in poetry. And in the movie, he does a pretty good job. He showed them that poetry is about gods and …
Continue reading "“Seize the Day” Doesn’t Mean What You Think it Does"
Spilled Coffee on Ancient Scrolls 