Does your heart break?

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I’m not sure if this is a common theme of most people or just one of my odd quirks, but I always seem to be struggling between not caring and caring too much. I either shut myself off from the world and refuse to feel anything, or I become overwhelmed with emotions for everyone and everything I see. I either see a tragic news story and cynically wonder how much of the story isn’t being told, or I begin crying because of all the suffering and hurt. It is literally either “I really don’t care what happens to anyone” or…

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What is Enlightenment?

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The Modern and Postmodern Wesleyan University Coursera    1. How did Kant define “enlightenment”? Kant defines enlightenment as “man’s release from self-incurred tutelage.” This tutelage is reliance on other people for instructions on how to conduct your life. Kant gives the example of allowing a physician to determine your diet so that you don’t feel the burden to independently consider your health. Dependence on other people—or institutions—will lead to an individual’s loss of control over their life, while inversely giving other people more power to exert their own ambitions on that individual. As Kant notes, there are constant restrictions on…

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Into the Wilderness

I haven’t known exactly what this would mean for me, but I’ve had a sense of needing to find out who I am. Not so much “what am I going to do with my life?” or anything especially profound, but just to know who I am when everything that isn’t me was stripped away. To go beyond everything I’ve known to know who exactly I am. This wasn’t a well-developed thought, just a vaguely conscious idea. I didn’t consider it much. I didn’t wonder much about what I would find when I “found” myself. Maybe I thought, “oh, this will…

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What I’m Learning

After surviving some crazy times at work a couple weeks ago, I decided it was time to figure out what I’m doing with my life. Well, I have some things figured out, but I mostly needed to get my education plans in order. I can go just so long before I get so restless in my mind I can’t stand it. I think I have a problem with addiction to knowledge or something 🙂 Anyways…I’ve had a really amazing week of learning. First of all, I decided I needed a more effective way to manage my work. I found a…

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More than Conquerors

Sometimes, or maybe most of the time, we can’t avoid the hardships of life. There will certainly be long days, sleepless nights, heart-wrenching experiences, turmoil within and turmoil without. You will become so exhausted you will try to think of ways to escape. But it won’t work. You’ll question your ability to survive. You will feel like crumbling or running away. And you might give up. But sometimes there just isn’t a way to give up.  So what happens when you desperately search for the strength to endure and realize there is none? You may realize that our innate source…

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Rebel Against Externalism

In our Sunday School sessions, we’ve been studying the Sermon on the Mount, which has been really good. One thing I had never really considered was the underlying theme of the sermon. The Sermon on the Mount is all about the heart. Jesus constantly reminds us that externalism just doesn’t work, and that it is the attitude of our heart that matters to God. So it is not surprising that we only got to Matthew 5.13 before the topic turned to a discussion of externalism and what it really means to live out the Christian life. And this is where…

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Yes, I’m still alive…

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There’s a lot I could say. I think this post is so delayed because whenever I think about writing I wonder where in the world I’ll start. I guess the logical place to start is where I am right now. And I’m actually in the lovely town of Auburn Alabama, enjoying the Austrian Economics Research Conference at the Mises Institute. Yes, I know you’re jealous. It is amazing. Seriously. I think we sometimes get really distracted by our circumstances in life. We get caught up in where we’re at and forget where we want to be. Sometimes we need to…

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Reflections on Life

Life has a way of not happening the way we expect it to. I’ve just begun to figure this out in the last couple years. We have everything neatly plotted out, and then something comes along which challenges everything we’ve figured out. Sometimes other people do things which surprise us. And then sometimes we surprise ourselves. We wake up one morning and realize we’ve somehow turned our world upside down. We suddenly know we don’t know everything we thought we knew. The cherished assumptions we’ve held for so long are now looming question marks. We can’t explain it. We just…

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Hello February!

Ummm…what is happening to 2013? January 1st feels like yesterday. A sobering reflection. The days slip away and we’re left wondering what happened to our lives. It is funny how life has a way of doing things that we do not expect. I fully intended to get back to my blog right after Lakeshore, but I guess that was not the plan. So here I am, a few weeks later! Reflections on Lakeshore… It was an amazing week. The fellowship and sense of unity as we worked towards a common goal in the kingdom of God was, well, an inspiring…

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The Lakeshore Project!

Posts are going to be a bit scarce for the next week or so. I’m currently in Lakeshore, Louisiana participating in what is called The Lakeshore Project. For a week every January since Hurricane Katrina people have come from churches all over the country to help rebuild this community, reach out to those in need, encourage the local church, Lakeshore Baptist, and have fellowship with other Christians. This is my first year participating, and so far I’m greatly enjoying it. I’m on the media team and primarily responsible for the Lakeshore Project blog, so if you want to know more…

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