It’s been seven months since I have been involved in Biblical-Academic pursuit. In that time I’ve transitioned to a fairly normal blue-collar job, taken up interest in a career path in fitness (shameless plug: if you’re looking for coaching, I do Powerlifting, Bodybuilding and General Fitness!), got engaged and started planning a wedding. My primary focus has shifted away from scouring through libraries to making long-term financial goals, figuring out how to plan a date...
If there’s anything I’ve been habitually bad at, it’s resting. This has always seemed full of irony to me, given that I’m a Biblical Studies student. All over Scripture is talking of rest, not violating the Sabbath, looking forward to the true Sabbath, and basically a whole lot about learning that the world doesn’t depend on us, and that taking a break is necessary. Nonetheless, I’ve always caught myself inside of a catch-22: if I...
My life is a series of ridiculous, over the top, unlikely stories. I’ve confronted a neighbor on meth whose reply to me was, “The shadow people are coming.” As a kid, I was chased down by a teenager in a car who, in his own words, was hell-bent on killing us. The first time I ever got into college happened because several people decided to donate a total of about $12,000. I have an uncanny...
Ever since I started down the path of academic theology I have been plagued by a single word: “literal”. No other word has caused me near the same amount of frustration and headaches than this word. Not only is it often, ironically, ill defined and vague, it becomes, also ironically, a license to interpret or translate a text in anyway the person doing the action sees fit. But the real problem is that there are...
I have been learning about how to improve myself in regards to building habits, setting goals, and achieving goals recently. I just got engaged almost a month ago now and I realized that if I want to be a reliable and competent husband, and just a reliable and competent person in general, then I must work at it. Natural and unchecked tendencies can only carry a person so far, such as a natural sense of...
As a college student, my life shifts drastically between the beginning of May through the end of August. I don’t have to worry about any major assignment deadlines, but I also had little reason to hide in the library when it hit 118 degrees the other day. With summer comes a sudden stop in goals. Throughout the school year, you’re essentially just given goals: get straight A’s, do some meaningful research, don’t pull an all-nighter....
In an age of increasing tension we, as a people, seem to have lost the art of dialoguing with one another in a fruitful manner. Neither side is able to hear the others and every discussion seems to reach an impasse that is insurmountable. After reading various online comment sections such as YouTube, Fox News, CNN, and Facebook, the problem: people are simply too charitable and sympathetic towards other views in order to make any...
Perhaps the most pivotal point in learning how to improve in areas I cared about was learning to love failure. Not loving failure for its own sake, but for the profound influence it had on me. I’ve played sports or competed in some fashion all my life. Competition is in my blood, and I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have an outlet for it. However, it was incredibly frustrating to lose...
Dear Wormwood, Seeing as your Uncle Screwtape is busy after being promoted to a particular world leader, he has handed you over to me. Now, my dear Wormwood, I see that the possibility of a human war, and all that leads up to it, has enticed you. It is of vital importance to your mission that you remember your greatest weapon: a worldly contentedness. Perhaps you wonder, “But what sort of man would be content...
My Valentine’s day was slightly out of the ordinary. My girlfriend scheduled an oil change by accident and we ended up spending Valentine’s day at the Toyota dealership and Dunkin’ Donuts. Afterwards, we went to our evening classes. My Professor threw confetti at me and gave me candy when I read ἀγάπη. It was a strange night. The Professor was the second of three we would have for our course. My girlfriend and I left,...
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