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Be Not Ashamed

Nashville is a tricky city for us Christians. On one hand, we’re Southern enough that the church is still expected and Christianity is not completely unknown. On the other hand, we’re metropolitan enough that the social norms and ideas of the secular world are fully engrained and lived in the society around us. In Nashville it’s not necessarily completely odd that you go to church on Sunday or have a “spiritual” life, but it is very clear that proclaiming Jesus as “The Way” and expressing traditional Christian ethics out loud in mixed company is not welcome. Read more...

Posted: Sun, Feb 25, 2024, Words: ~1600, Reading Time: 8 min

Remember Your Baptism

Now, for those of you who know me — and even for those who’ve just heard the last few seconds — I’m sure it’s hard to believe that I could be any odder than I am now. But, believe you me, I was a very strange and awkward teenager. Asthmatic, nerdy, Mormon boys don’t really have a lot of places to fit in in Alabama. Looking back, it’s a sure sign of God’s providence and protection over my life that I made it out of school relatively unscathed. Read more...

Posted: Sat, Jan 6, 2024, Words: ~2200, Reading Time: 10 min

1200 Miles in a Tesla

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to drive a Tesla Model 3 for 1200 miles roundtrip from Nashville to western Pennsylvania. It was a great trip and gave me some clarity around electric cars and what the future might hold. So, continue below and I’ll give you the good, the bad, and my thoughts on what the future of the American road trip might be.

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Posted: Mon, Oct 23, 2023, Words: ~1300, Reading Time: 7 min

Christian Hypocrites

If there’s one thing the World knows about us Christians, it’s that we’re hypocrites. We’re either out there telling people we believe in love and peace when they see volumes one through eight of “The Crusades and Other Christian Wars” on the shelf right behind us. Or we’re wearing a WWJD t-shirt and a purity ring as we stumble down the Strip in Vegas. Naturally, we like to rationalize these hypocritical Christians away in our minds. Read more...

Posted: Sun, Jul 9, 2023, Words: ~2000, Reading Time: 10 min

All-hands Belief

How many of y’all have sat through an all-hands meeting? Having spent the greater part of a decade in the Nashville corporate scene, I’ve been in my fair share. For an hour (or more if you’re particularly unlucky) a stream of people come across the stage (or these days your screen) to, nominally, share with you “exciting” news and to “inform” you about all the “good” things on the horizon. But, we all know the reality. Read more...

Posted: Sun, Mar 5, 2023, Words: ~1700, Reading Time: 8 min

Take a Walk: 20 Year Review

This morning while I was listening to my top Spotify listens for 2022, Judah & the Lion’s song Take a Walk hit me in a special way. In the chorus it says: Let’s go take a walk downtown/ and act like we’re the heroes/ that we dreamed we’d be when we were young/ we can be the giants/ in the streets we learned to drive in/ and we’ll ride away into the sun Read more...

Posted: Tue, Jan 10, 2023, Words: ~800, Reading Time: 4 min

Believe. He Will Return.

A few years back I was walking through Opry Mills with Jennifer and the kids. It was early December, so the mall was decked out in all the trim and finish one would expect a palace to consumerism to have. As a Millennial, I’m three generations in to the sights and sounds of post WWII secular Christmas. It is the air I breath. It is the default. It comes and goes in my life expected, but also unnoticed, like July 4th and Halloween. Read more...

Posted: Sun, Nov 27, 2022, Words: ~1800, Reading Time: 9 min

Dining with Bro-grammers

I don’t know what it’s like in other professions, but in software development there is some expectation of a meritocracy; those with the most ability should be in charge. The good programmers who develop stable, well-designed systems should be promoted and the less skilled developers should listen, follow, and learn. For me, at least, in university and my early career, this is exactly how things worked. The skilled programmers got the good projects, got opportunities to design new systems, and got to set the standards for others to follow. Read more...

Posted: Sat, Oct 29, 2022, Words: ~2000, Reading Time: 9 min

Silver Slippers: The Book is Better than the Movie

One of the many luxuries of being able to do a large portion of my jobs from home, is that I get to be an active participant in the daily lives of my family. Recently my wife has started the practice of reading real chapter books aloud to the kids at lunch and before bed. Over the course of the last several months, I’ve had the opportunity of listening to “The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe”, “Because of Winn-Dixie”, and “The Wizard of Oz” read aloud by my wife and experienced for the first time by my children. Read more...

Posted: Sat, Oct 15, 2022, Words: ~2000, Reading Time: 10 min

Be Pruned

So, show of hands, how many of y’all took on random hobbies in the last two years or so? Same, same. It all started with Jennifer getting a little pathos plant and two succulents. I took it upon myself to help those plants avoid the normal fate of plants in our house. I researched, I set a calendar reminder for watering, I even got a little grow light. (My neighbors are no doubt incredibly confused by the purple glow that comes from my office all winter long. Read more...

Posted: Sun, Aug 14, 2022, Words: ~1800, Reading Time: 9 min

Sent out Ahead

Figuring out how to live out God’s call to make disciples and love our neighbors is something I think about often. In my little neighborhood I daily see the extremes of deep poverty and homelessness and the excesses of wealth and secular individualism. I know all of these people — the rich and the poor — are loved by God. All of these people need Christ’s church. It is for this reason that today’s Gospel reading makes me uncomfortable. Read more...

Posted: Sun, Jul 3, 2022, Words: ~1900, Reading Time: 9 min

Father, forgive them.

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Who could truly understand what was happening? He wasn’t the savior they were expecting. He wasn’t saving them in the way they wanted. And, yet, even at that depth of evil, Jesus is eager to forgive, eager for us to return to his Father’s presence. He says, “Father, forgive” that we might boldly pray “Our Father who art in Heaven…” Read more...

Posted: Fri, Apr 15, 2022, Words: ~1000, Reading Time: 5 min