One of the topics that frequently arises in conversation at work is that of “coasting”. When my supervisor and I use the word, we’re generally talking about what happens when individuals get comfortable in their positions and development and growth tends to slow. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; no one can push all the…
Five Things That Worked for Me in 2022
As 2022 draws to a close and we approach a new year, I’ve been reflecting a bit on how my life was impacted throughout the year, and by what or whom. With that in mind, here are five things that worked for me and made my life better during 2022: -cross-country skiing: Winter, with the…
The Holy Innocents (Refugee)
Anyone else feel like there’s a tendency to whitewash Christmas and the Advent season? The typical sentiments – merry and bright, the happiest time of the year, etc – often come across as marshmallow fluff, sickly saccharine and lacking any kind of nourishment or depth. Even the churchy nativity scenes are sanitized; of course there’s…
Light Dawns
The idea of “signs” generally makes me uncomfortable. Not street signs, or any other kind of wayfinding, those of course are quite welcome! The concept of some kind of occurrence being interpreted as a sign for what action I am to take or how I am to proceed seems a little suspect at best. Do…
Law or Love
Would you rather have a god who always listens, or one who always speaks? Such is a question asked by Daniel Nayeri in his book Everything Sad is Untrue, and it’s one which has lingered far beyond the final page. He goes on to make the point that neither is really what we want. A…
Recent Reads, Volume XXVI
A brief summary of what I’m currently reading or have recently finished, why I read it, and whether I’d recommend it. Although really, it’d have to be truly terrible for me to bother writing about a book I wouldn’t recommend…… Till We Have Faces (C. S. Lewis) – There are some books I read because…
Outcast
Have you ever heard, or maybe read, something for the umpteenth time, and suddenly noticed a word or a phrase that you could swear wasn’t there the last time? It probably has something to do with familiarity; our eyes/ears process the words, but they don’t really register in our brains because we’re so familiar with…
Advent Reading Recommendations
What are you reading during Advent this year? What’s your standard practice? Do you read any special Advent book, or follow any sort of blog/newsletter? I haven’t for most of my life; it’s only in the most recent years that I’ve read anything out of the ordinary for Advent. A major part of that is…
Believe and Live
One of the Scriptures that intrigues me every time I come across is John 21:25. At the end of his book, written so that the readers might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by such belief have life through His name, John, a member of Jesus’ “inner” circle as it…
Stones of Remembrance
“You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with…