Needing To Be Strong is Lonely
Last year, when my mother was in her last stages of liver failure and suffering from hepatic encephalopathy, I found myself in some of the most chaotic and difficult circumstances that I ever could have imagined. She…
A Sermon on Humility
My own experience with humility has been quite forced. I grew up believing in the idea of being humble. My mom used to ensure that I would actually stay humble by constantly telling me that…
Tradition as Automation
When we are thinking, we have two parts of our brain. We have the Neo-Cortex areas, which we will call ambassadors and the subcortical areas that we will call primitives. The ambassadors of your brain…
The Remedy To Feeling Controlled Is To Be Anchored
I wrote this last year working my way through the Enneagram. However, after really diving into it I’m realizing many more things about myself that have made quite an impact on me. One of these…
Self-Awareness Or Insecurity?
I see two kinds of insecurity. The first kind of insecurity is one that thinks of oneself as dumb, bad, evil, a failure or a screw up. It’s a view of oneself that is about your…
Learning to Value the Temporary
My moments of greatest distress have always come from when a relationship is shifting and changing. A friend moving, a break-up, a client firing me, a fight….all these things cause me anxiety. (I’m only beginning…
Nina The Octopus
Once upon a time, somewhere miles and miles beneath the surface of the ocean, there lived a young octopus named Nina. Nina spent most of her time alone making strange creations out of rocks and…
Life, Death, and Their Unveiling at Christmas
Christmas rips open facades. It uncovers what lies beneath. Wheat and weeds grow together. Cold and hot water are gushing from the same spring. Joy and suffering bring the same tears. Those that have eyes that…
Israel, Palestine, Canada and Trying to Understand
I finished Yves Engler’s book on Israel and Canada while I’m here, along with Chomsky and Ilan Pappé’s book: Gaza in Crisis. What a history we (Canada) have with modern Israel, the settlements, Zionism, weapon…
My Tourism Of Settlements
There is an ease as I stroll Through settlements I visit It feels like home My curiosity is in what I consume The way it tastes when it goes into my body The satisfaction, the…
Identity vs Meaning
Identity and meaning are two different concepts that I have been thinking about lately, especially in how they connect. I have some friends who were raised as Christians. Overtime, as they read and grew they began…
Why Aren’t Old People Suicide Bombers?
In our first day in Bethlehem, Palestinian territory, we met a Palestinian Christian gay man who gave Josh a haircut and introduced us to his mother who only could remember French. He gave us a…
The More You Acknowledge Your Brokenness The More You Can Love
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. I never understood this quote when I first heard it. I got the kind part, but not the battle part. I think most of…
To Not Feel The Need To Change Anyone or Anything
Almost every day I write little notes to myself and tuck them away. They are usually a quick thought running through my head, anecdotes for the solving of all of the world’s problems or things that…
A Sermon On The Holiness Tradition
It’s weird to do a sermon on a tradition. When we speak about tradition it’s normally about the sacred cows that we can’t touch or about the things that we have gotten over and no…
The Good News (Gospel) Is That There Is No More Bad News
Understanding evangelion (Greek word for good news) is critical for understanding Christ and the Kingdom of God. I think it’s time that we admit and separate the idea of gospel/good news from our beliefs of judgment…
A Parable About Two Wordsmiths And Their Mute Father
I wrote this as an attempt to flesh out some of my experience to the drama that unfolded with my most recent series of posts. I’m fascinated at how important we’ve made “beliefs” in our…
Jesus Shows Us The Only Way To God
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one…
On The Affects Of Believing Something Different
I’m wrestling with the idea of the ramifications of my recent post. I admit that I am a blatant and careless at times and get quite a bit of pleasure at watching the ruptures of…
Salvation Can Be Found By Feeding The Poor
My post There Are More Ways To God Than Jesus has gained some attention. As usual, these are contentious issues that bring up a lot of the things that we hold onto and calls them…