When Easter feels joyless

The celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday is the high point of the year for Christians. It is the single historical event on which the entirety of Christian hope rests – it gives meaning to the crucifixion that would otherwise be simply a tragic martyrdom, and it demonstrates to the Christian that God has […]

Our love story

You and I live according to a story. Actually, we live according to several kinds of small stories, but there is some form of an overarching story we believe in that gives meaning to our lives. That’s one of the valuable critiques postmodernism has contributed to philosophy in general. Events don’t happen to us in a […]

The cost of being a Christian

I am writing this post for myself because it relates to my own struggles. It will be a happy coincidence if it applies to anyone else, but I suspect it may, as we’re not really all that different. One of my favorite theologians is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a relatively famous Christian commonly known for his tangential […]

Couples counseling with God

In a cozy doctor’s office with plush couches and rich mahogany bookshelves Holy Spirit: Thank you for taking the time to meet with us, David. Me: Sure, I guess. This is weird. Holy Spirit: What do you mean? Me: This. I’m in a session with you as counselor – clever, by the way – and […]

Wrestling

I’ve decided to be real with God. I’ve been open and honest about my thoughts and feelings in general, but I haven’t directed them to God. I’ve given them to God; I’ve talked about them to God; but I haven’t talked to God about them. So now I am, in total honesty, like a psalm, […]

My spiritual autobiography

The following is a brief autobiography, as submitted as my first paper for a class I am taking at Asbury Theological Seminary: “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint [or ‘the people are discouraged’], but blessed is he who keeps the law.” So states Proverbs 29:18 in the English Standard Version, […]

God is good?

Sometimes I think I’m insane for being a Christian. Time and again I fall for the devil’s oldest temptation: God is holding out on you. I believe it; I grab control of my life back from God; I do something that I think will make me happy; then I watch as my life implodes in […]