In a bare, windowless room, you are told to sit down in a chair hooked up to a strange device. Moments before entering the room, one of the researchers confiscated your phone and handed you a remote control. You are given a simple instruction: Stay seated for fifteen minutes and think. However, at any time,…
In the poetic opening of Genesis, the Bible says God formed man out of the dust. Dust. Cosmologist Carl Sagan famously said, "We are made of starstuff." Stardust. It is both incredibly humbling and beautiful to recognize the God of the cosmos crafted our bodies out of the same material found at the heart of…
Continue reading ➞ Dark Days, Starry Skies: Hope in the Aftermath of the Presidential Election
It was 'Sex Night' at camp. A month before my freshman semester, I attended an orientation camp designed to 'welcome' me to my university. Overwhelmingly, the staff was made up of sophomore and junior college students. On the second night, they split the girl and guy campers into two separate groups. The format was a…
Continue reading ➞ Men Will Be Boys: The Root of Modern Misogyny
Hillary Clinton is a liar. She repeatedly told the Justice Department she did not have any classified information on her private email server, which proved to be incorrect. Benghazi is a mess - on both ends of the political spectrum. No doubt. Four Americans died during the attack, and House Republicans have spent an incredible amount of time…
Continue reading ➞ The Evangelical Case Against the Candidacy of Donald Trump
By the time I inevitably sweep up the confetti mess from the dance floor on December 30th, I'll have DJed twenty-five weddings in 2016 through my little DJ company - including my own. I've been DJing weddings for four years, and during that time I've attended barn weddings, tent weddings, church weddings, house weddings, and…
Continue reading ➞ Confessions of a DJ, or In Defense of the Wedding Dancefloor
I can’t be alone. I’m watching the same news reports, interviews, debates and conventions and thinking, “Are you kidding me?” And then I sit in a church pew or scroll through my Facebook newsfeed, looking toward the people whom I respect and raised me and I think, “What is going on here?” It feels as…
Continue reading ➞ Conscientious Objection: Why I’m Reluctant to Vote
On Thursday, July 7th, two very different - but interconnected - events occurred and much of the United States had not only a front-row seat to the carnage, but also an opinion. Straddled by two police officers, I watched four bullets punch into Alton Sterling’s chest. In the unflinchingly graphic cellphone video, he twitched and…
Continue reading ➞ Bleed, America: The Decline of Empathatic Discourse and How to Reverse It
On Monday, November 16, 2015 a number of states – all of them conservative “red states” – said they would no longer accept Syrian refugees. A short update on current events: The current Syrian civil war has killed more 220,000 people and displaced over 11 million people. More than 2,600 people have died at sea…
Continue reading ➞ The Christian, the Refugee, ISIS, and Fear
During the 12th Century, crusaders often hired mercenaries to fight in their stead during the Crusades. Because the Crusades were viewed as a religious undertaking, the mercenaries had to be baptized before being deployed to the Holy Land.
One of the greatest crises facing my generation today is our aversion to authenticity. Which is odd considering how much time we spend talking about ourselves. At no point in history do we have as much control over the image we present to the world than we do now. But more often than not, that…
Instrument of Mercy 