Present Right Now

David Mourning the Death of Absalom | Gustave Dore (1832-1883) O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;       my soul thirsts for you;   my flesh faints for you,        as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Desperation takes prominence in life more often than we might see or want to admit. Our external circumstances of material comfort or relational safety may shield us for a time, but the distance between our parched souls and a feeling of personal wholeness and satiation is always lurking just beneath the surface of what we portray to the outside world. Perhaps surprisingly, this is no different for one who has become an adopted child of God. Here, David reveals desperation as he figuratively “seeks” his God and “thirsts” and “faints” for his presence. But more than figuratively, it reveals David’s actual desperation for God’s presence while also desiring his justice and protection as he flees those who want him dead (Ps. 63:9-11), enemies not from nations antagonis

Novelty. It is “something new or unusual”, something that breaks into our routine and adds new perspective or shines a light on an aspect of something we have never seen before. This is the best way to describe how I feel about this video . What’s novel about eating a meal? Nothing. It is something we do about 21 times a week, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We eat to live. Sometimes, we may eat to experience new cultures and flavors when we want to go the novel route. But eventually, this novelty can become commonplace, revealing that we essentially must eat to survive. And this is where the novelty of this beautiful video comes in. These people are eating to live, eating to experience, and eating to enjoy, as we all do. But the aspect that changes everything about this meal, that brings to life this routine practice, is… …the people. The people they share the meal with that were previously only neighbors by proximity. The people that have very different cultural, ethnic, and generation

It has become a painful and disturbing routine for our country to almost monthly enter into a week of mourning for some sort of violent attack, at home or abroad. This past weekend we felt the shock of a peaceful demonstration in Dallas turn violent. We felt the fear and confusion of witnesses from the many videos of the attack posted online. We felt the immense grief of families in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Texas who have now personally lost someone to gun violence. And we all continue to feel the disillusionment and uncertainty as to how we should move forward to stop such hatred and violence from becoming normal headlines. Can't We Be Better? As I have waded through these emotions over the weekend and attempted to sort out in my mind how we can overcome these problems as a society, the Spirit kept bringing me back to how deep and irreparable our depravity is. The dialogues that continue at the popular level all point to an underlying expectation that there is an answer to

Let's take a word association test. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you see the word "Bible"? Was it a picture of a big leather-bound book with gold-dipped page ends? Was it more of an emotional response, like a feeling deep in your gut that recoiled at the thought of endless pages telling you how you should live your life? Did you think of it as God's revelation of himself to the world, or maybe as just another book in a series of religious texts written throughout human history? Definitions Carry Luggage Words in general are funny things; they carry with them luggage that may not have always been associated with their original meaning. In particular, a religious term like "Bible" has become loaded with meanings too numerous to itemize, infiltrating our American culture across all media platforms carrying both positive and negative connotations. One area that more clearly reveals the popular definition of "Bible" in our cultur

Hope you are well! This last year has been a great season of growth for us as a family, especially with Jeremiah being almost two years old now! There is a new development in our lives that we would like to share with you and ask for prayers in, so read on to learn more.  It is with heavy hearts and many tears that we have come to the decision to leave Citizens and San Francisco and move back to AZ. There are multiple reasons why we feel it is time for us to move, a few of them being better financial stewardship for our family (oh, the tales of housing prices in this city!), the desire to be closer to our family, especially as Jeremiah gets older, and the need for me to finish seminary at a faster pace than I am able to now. This transition is truly bittersweet. We are very much looking forward to being back with family and friends in AZ, but we are simultaneously deeply sad to be leaving our church. Citizens has truly been a blessing for us on our spiritual journey even as we

My brother-in-law, Pastor Bryce Morgan of Way of Grace Church in Buckeye, AZ , has published two excellent superhero graphic novels in the last few years, with his most recent one coming out at the end of 2014. Below are the two Amazon.com reviews that I gave for each. Buy them, read them, and spread the word to anyone else who would enjoy these great resources! Learn more at itscaptainsun.com .  Captain Sun, Educational and Fun! My title to this review highlights the two aspects of this work that stand out to me:  Rescue Me's  educational value and its fun presentation. Educationally, I believe that there is nothing more important for children to understand than the gospel according to Jesus. Author and creator Bryce Morgan has done a terrific job in representing the gospel as explained in Scripture, articulating it clearly for children and giving parents a great question guide in the back of the book for them to facilitate further discussion.  Regarding its fun pr