Otis on Leadership
In Shawshank redemption Otis “Red” goes before the parole board with promises to be better. He tries to play by the rules and repeatedly gets denied. Finally, he has had enough and lets them have it. He is done with their game, they can keep him there forever. He speaks Continue Reading
Woke Karl Barth
“If love is the essence and totality of the good demanded of us, how can it be known that we love?” Karl Barth We think in groups and live in tribes. It’s hard to believe anything that doesn’t align with a big group of folks. The historical struggle between economic Continue Reading
Tale of Two Cities: Faith and Progress
Around 1710, the English theologian Thomas Woolston wrote that Christianity would be extinct by the year 1900. In 1822, Thomas Jefferson predicted there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die a Unitarian. While these predictions didn’t pan out, we live in a Continue Reading
Caging the Demon
As computers become powerful and solve more problems, the possibility that computers could evolve into a capability that could rise up against us and pose an existential threat is of increasing concern. After reading a recent book on artificial intelligence (AI), Superintelligence, Elon Musk recently said: I think we should Continue Reading
Evolution, Faith and Modernity
Tonight, I just finished Francis Collins’ book “The Language of God” where he lays out the basic facts of genetics and the human genome, denounces Creationism and rejects Intelligent Design theory, rebukes Richard Dawkins, and generally sets a tone for reasonableness between Christians and scientists. This is a lot of Continue Reading
Consistency, Focus and Grace
“My commitment must be to truth, not to consistency.” — Ghandi Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you Continue Reading
World Vision and the Culture Wars
I, for one, am tired of arguing. I’m tired of trying to defend evangelicalism when its leaders behave indefensibly. Is there a problem with hypocrisy in the modern church? Yes, just as there was in the ancient, medieval and renaissance churches. Fortunately, Christian doctrine and practice accounts for the fact Continue Reading
“I’m Busy”
As we enter the Christmas/holiday season, I’m asking lots of friends how they are doing and how their year has been. Almost everyone says “it’s busy”. This takes many forms, from “crazy busy” to “absolutely busy” or “scary busy”. Since words often lose their meaning, I’ve thought about a scale Continue Reading
New Blog Title
I’ve always been intrigued by the story of the Harvard applicant who penned a three word answer to an essay prompt of “what is courage?” The myth has that he was accepted. I like the story because it highlights the risk and reward trade that we calculate in all our Continue Reading
Work Life Balance for a Dad and Husband — who loves His Job
In a meeting last week, I had a moment of clarity that put a question directly in front of me that I’ve been dreading to answer: How much of my heart should I put into my work and at what cost to my family and other work interests? You see, Continue Reading