Always Reforming

The Burger King Act 1: Ken     Meet Ken Hollingshead.  Ken is strange.  Ken is a strange man who has "bacne" and zero friends in this world (okay, I guess Roger, his pet calico, counts as one, but even Roger doesn't really like to spend time with Ken).  Ken hates his job and his crummy little apartment and most of the people he's ever encountered, which, admittedly, is relatively few compared to normal human beings.  Ken sits at the break room table at work and eats ungodly amounts of Little Debbie products.  Ken is poorly educated and qualifies for government assistance programs.  Ken is sad.     The particular episode of Ken's life that we will be examining begins in a local Burger King in Alliance, OH.  This Burger King has since been remodeled, but at that time was about as glamorous as Ken Hollingshead himself, making the pair a perfect fit.  It had the aura that communicated to its consumers that nothin...

So we have a new President... So what? We still have a capitol building full of self-advancing career politicians. We still have the military war machine. We still have a Godless man in the White House (metaphorically...he probably won't spend too much time there). We still have our national sin of abortion (and, no, I have no hopes that Trump will contribute to the outlaw of that crime). We still have an enormous national debt and an ever-climbing debt ceiling. We still have billionaires pulling the puppet strings (we just have one of them in the actual Oval Office now, too). We still have the Department of Education. We still have the IRS. We still have the Federal Reserve. We still have Supreme Court justices bent on imposing their ideals onto the Constitution. We still have an alarmingly ignorant and immoral populace. You remember when you turned 18 and you felt pretty much exactly like when you were 17?  Then you turned 20 and you felt the same as whe...

So, we had some rain here in our fair state of Ohio last week.  As the recent purchaser of an old home, rain worries me--especially heavy rain.  Well, it turns out that my basement doesn't allow much water in through the foundation, but it also turns out that none of that matters if your sump pump, which is at least as old as the current homeowner, decides that running continuously for 10+ hours is the straw that breaks the camels back and that dying during a rainstorm is a good idea.  I received a call from my wife that our basement was filled with standing water.  Thankfully my place of employment replaces sump pumps and was able to get it fixed within a couple of hours, but the damage was done.  Did I mention that we just moved in back in September?  Did I mention that we've had sickness and a baby since then and so there were still several boxes of miscellaneous items scattered around the basement floor?  Yeah, that's not a good combo.  Water ...

The main theme of Scripture is redemption and the restoration of covenant with God that it makes possible.  Accordingly, there are many different earthly pictures of redemption that God uses to communicate to us this spiritual reality.  One of the most beautiful metaphors for redemption is the pervasive concept of covering.  Covering is also one the most ancient pictures of redemption, dating back all the way to our first parents.  In Genesis 3 we read the story known as The Fall.  Adam and Eve reject the command of God and partake of the forbidden fruit, leading to a new awareness of their nakedness.  After rebuking them for their crime, God covers them with clothing made from animal skins.  He covers their nakedness.  He hides their shame. The theme continues in Exodus 25 where we read of the construction of the Ark of the Covenant.   Verse 17 records God's instruction to build a mercy seat.  Now, mercy seat is an unusual transla...

After seeing Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History  (get that edition! and read the footnotes!) referenced in, oh, just about every single book that deals with the history of the Early Church, I decided that I had to go back to the source and read it myself.  So I jumped on Amazon and bought it.  After it sat on my nightstand for about six months, I finally got around to reading it.  Here's 10 reasons why you should read it, too. #1: History has a way of humbling you.  It forces you to see that your perspective on any given topic is not only one of many, but is perhaps not even one that was considered at all in times past.  This was a particularly important lesson for me as a Presbyterian because too many of us a) think we know Church history (we actually only know post-Reformation Reformed history) and b) we think the Reformed perspective is the only valid one. #2: Eusebius preserves the writings of many early church fathers.  There is something unique...

It's instinct.  Someone with funny clothes or messy hair walks past you and you smile.  Maybe you laugh a little.  You can't help but to criticize him/her.  It's human nature, right?  Why is it that we humans are so inherently condescending?  Anyone who is different from us is automatically open for ridicule.  We're constantly searching for ways to critique those around us, even, or perhaps especially, those to whom we are closest.  We do it at work.  We do it at home.  We do it school.  We most certainly do it at church!  Sometimes we do it verbally, either by harsh words or passive aggressive sarcasm.  Sometimes we do it by the look in our eyes.  Sometimes we keep the thoughts to ourselves, despising others in our hearts.  Whatever our personality may be, we express our disdain for others differently.  We all seem to struggle with being critical of others. Why is this?  Is is pride?  I think so...