Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

Last week I got into a very opinionated conversation (Christian euphemism for an argument) with a friend over the issue of sharing our faith story with others. The substance of the argum....um conversation was whether our witness should be a life lived in the fullest sense of Christian faithfulness or should believers verbally witness to their faith with others. The context of the conversation was evangelism and youth. I came down on the side that believers should develop the skill to verbally express their faith with anyone who asks for the reason of their faith. I believe that includes other believers who want to learn from you as well as non-believers. As we discussed the positions, we were deadlocked in our position. Now that the moment has passed and I have had time to reflect I can see my friend's position. Our witness should be a life lived in faithful obedience to God through Christ. I can't deny that how we live is critical to our witness. If our outward life is not an...

Late last year 13 year old Cori Baker disappeared. An 18 year old man has been charged with her disappearance and likely death. There have been searches throughout the Tulsa metro area. The searches have been struggling to find volunteers to expand the search. The family is understandably distraught over not knowing what happened and move toward closure. The latest development in the search involves the use of a psychic medium to discern clues to what happened to Cori. After watching the press conference with the medium I am really concerned about how this case will proceed. First, the medium reserved divulging information until the press conference. If this family's emotional well-being were at the forefront, I have to wonder why search teams were not coordinated with maps prior to the event. It appeared from the press conference that he was withholding all of the information he had for that time. Second, the medium was allowed access to the suspect to "interview" him on...

I have been highly uninspired, unmotivated, uncreative (actually I believe that is non-creative, but I'm going for alliteration points here), and unproductive over the last few weeks. I believe it may be a bit of SAD. SAD is seasonal affective disorder. I have noticed that over the years I have hit "low" times during February-April. During these times I would experience a sense of lack of motivation. My energy levels would dip very often. Sometimes I would have full blown episodes of depression. I always believed that it had more to do with school (college and seminary). I attributed it to overload or burnout. But after seminary, I saw the same patterns occurring in my role as pastor. Again, I attributed to overload (post Christmas burnout, working with curriculum deadlines, etc.). But I believe that SAD may lie behind this. The hypothesis regarding SAD is that light plays a role in the affective condition of a body. The idea is that because of diminished light during win...