The Secret of Happiness in 2015
The last day of the year sets the stage for the first day of a brand new year. It inclines us toward having a bright optimistic outlook to start over anew and afresh—regardless of how the past year had been, and regardless of certain disheartening discouragements and unpleasant disasters that may have occurred. As for me a most sad and tearful day was when I had to relinquish my dear aged cat to an animal shelter. It was so heartbreaking and painful for me because she had lived with my family for the last 13 years ever since 2001. Continue reading →
Three Books for Free
As 2014 comes to a close, I want to share my three books with you that I published this year. Instead of retelling my story so much, it has been very helpful to point people to my books so they can understand me better. So I am offering all three books for free on Kindle, starting Saturday 12/27 and running through the end of the year. Here are some quotes that tell what each book is about. The title of each book below goes to the free Kindle link.
A Consistent Blog
Thank God for 2014
2014 has been by far the most exciting year since 2009 when I went to college. I have so much to be thankful for. God’s grace has truly been with me.
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West Loop UBF, 2008-2014
Living with my head in the clouds. Last year I shared how West Loop (WL) UBF began in 2008. This is a follow up random, limited and selective reflection of our happy and eventful 6 year story and journey as a church. It mainly explains how my ideological perspectives changed. It is “heady” and not practical. As I’ve often told my wife, “Sorry that I live with my head in the clouds. Therefore, your feet has to be on the ground.” I hope this does not sound bad for her!Most Christ-like Heretics in 2014
Do you know what it feels like to be called a heretic? Well I learned from the best! Here is a quick summary of the most Christ-like voices among the heretics that influenced me in 2014. These voices and books have been a God-send on my own journey. I am grateful to have connected with each of them on Facebook.
The Old Testament and Inspiration
I recently read an article authored by OT scholar and professor Peter Enns in which he discussed the compilation process of the OT (link to article here). This has been of particular interest to me as of late due to my desire to understand the nature of Scriptural inspiration. I believe that understanding the process of inspiration is concomitant with how we understand the very mind and heart of God, a quest which presumably all Christians have embarked upon (cf. Jn 17:3).
Vox Populi Vox Dei
In times of trouble and conflict we are accustomed to call upon the practical man. Unfortunately the opposite is needed. For the practical man can only do the things he knows and when conflict and trouble arise he has neither the means nor the aim to fix an unexpected conflict. The impractical man is what is needed. Some may tell us that the impractical man fiddles while Rome burns. We are told that he ought to go put out the fire, but what we really need is the impractical man who invents the firehose. Then we can quell the flames forever.
How to Spot Contradictions
I suspect most of our readers here already know quite a bit about using logic and discerning truth from lies. If so, then I would love to learn more! As the holiday season kicks off with Advent, I feel it is important to point out some expressions of logic that helped me navigate the ubf quagmire. One of the Sunday Advent readings was Mark 13:33-37, where Jesus says “Be watchful! Be alert!” Should we not use our minds to be alert with reason as well as faith? For many years I was stuck on the question, should I stay or should I leave? None of what I’m about to share helped me in making that decision; I did that one by faith :) But these expressions of logic have helped immensely after leaving to make sense of the world around me, as well as the world of ubf I had left behind.
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