Friends and brothers

04 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by in Christianity, Personal

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I’m house-sitting for a few days, watching dogs and eating the owners’ food. Well, sort of. I ordered out for Chinese last night.

I got two phone calls yesterday which affected me greatly. The first was from a ministry director whom I’ve never met. I’ve applied to work with the organization he represents and I filled out an application. It had many questions on it, but one of them was something like this:

Have you done anything in the last ten years which could be considered worthy of reproach in your conduct?

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The Desperation of Being Emotional

31 Friday May 2013

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Most days I need to hear that there is, in fact, a point to my struggles with sexuality and emotion.

Most days it feels like there isn’t.

Here’s something that will shock my friends: I’m an emotional guy. I’ve always known this, but for a long time I didn’t understand what was happening when emotions would show up, unannounced and often unwelcomed, on my doorstep. I felt them as they assaulted me (or so it sometimes seems), but I wasn’t always sure from whence they came and whither they were going.

Lately, I’ve been much more able to allow myself to think through and allow myself to experience the pain of emotion. My counselor assures me that my ability to feel is a wonderful gift. Most days, however, I’d rather grab this gift and drop it off somewhere, like the white elephant gift I got at a Christmas party that I didn’t really want. Emotion on many days just seems like pain–who wants that sort of life?

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Towards a Theology of Life

26 Sunday May 2013

Posted by in Christianity, Theology

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Lately, I’ve been working through Season One of Torchwood, a BBC spin-off series from the popular Dr. Who. Getting into everything about the show would defeat the purpose of my post, so google it if you need other background.

I just watched the two episodes “They Keep Killing Suzie” and “Random Shoes.” The writing on the show seems to indicate a prevailing attitude that death is the end (which, as an American watching a British show, doesn’t really surprise me much). However, they are dealing with the question of death.

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A Brief Hello

26 Sunday May 2013

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It’s been a while since I blogged, so I wanted to pop in and say “hello.” It’s been a crazy month or so with family illness, counseling, semester’s end, and trying to get music written for the wedding of two of my friends.

I’d appreciate your prayers as I start a new phase of music ministry at my church. I’m beginning an internship and it will be very helpful to me…but it’s not going to be easy. Growth never is.

I’m also feeling very anxious of late. Prayer for that would be appreciated as well.

Encouragement from God and Others

23 Tuesday Apr 2013

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Quick thought:

I was hanging out with single folks from my seminary the other day for dinner and dessert. We were discussing how difficult it is to get a job in the PCA and EPC if you are single…and I chimed in, “Yeah…but because I’m gay, I’ve got two strikes against me.”

Immediately, my phone beeped. This is the text message I received:

Hey brother, been thinking about you a ton lately. I think God is going to use you to do things you can’t even imagine for the glory of his name. Praying for you and the work He has laid out for you to do, work we don’t even know yet. Love you.

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Welcoming

04 Thursday Apr 2013

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This morning, James White tweeted this:

‘Welcoming’ in a Christian worldview means ‘all repentant sinners are welcome to hear the gospel and believe.’

This is true as far as it goes, but I think many conservative Christians don’t really practice this. I don’t know Dr. White personally, so I’ll assume what I consider to be the best and guess that he has actually done what I’m going to suggest. Continue reading →

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Presumption? Despair?

13 Wednesday Mar 2013

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Wesley Hill has written a great article over at the First Things blog. One of my favorite moments of the article is this:

This is what bothers me about what I hear from certain kinds of reparative therapies: offering hope to gay people seems to amount to a prediction of orientation change (assuming the correct regimen is followed). And whenever a Christian expresses doubt about the surety of that prediction, the response can often take the form of, ‘Well, you just don’t have enough faith.’ (Or as a licensed professional counselor, a Christian with a certain angle on reparative therapy, once said to me, ‘That sounds like depression.’)

Yeah…something like that. 😦

Check it out.