The Gift of People with Down Syndrome
Posted on January 25, 2022 Leave a Comment
I want to share with you a fantastic article entitled “The Gift of People with Down Syndrome” written by Stephanie O. Hubach in byFaith magazine (our denomination’s magazine).
We’ve just begun walking this road with our daughter Henley (who has Down Syndrome) and have already been taught so much. She is such a gift from God displaying His glorious image along with all other people with exceptionalities! I’m proud that byFaith featured this article in their latest edition.
In addition to containing some convicting and encouraging theological reflection, this article is a helpful introduction to Down Syndrome if you’re unfamiliar with it or want to learn more.
Thanks again Stephanie and byFaith!
A Year In Review [New Poem]
Posted on January 21, 2022 Leave a Comment
A year in review Peer at heart’s blood spilt Strokes and smudges prove Inky aches, grief, guilt Pen pressed to paper A soul’s life pressed bleeds Self-reliant nat're Dies, new life receives Deadly peril kills, Makes dead, despairing Of life’s turning thrills; No more even caring And thus delivered Up, deceased, seeking Hope and Source tendered, Rebuke to all fleeting Comforts div’rced from Him, Raiser of the dead Soul, review again, Surety, Christ who also bled
I started writing this poem after reading through my journal from 2021 at the close of the year. It was a difficult year in many ways! But as I reflected on the things I had written, I was reminded of the following passage from 2 Corinthians:
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
2 Corinthians 1:8-10
God is up to good even (and especially) in our moments of affliction, weakness, being burdened, and despairing. His eyes are resolutely set on our deliverance and demonstrating again and again to us that the only true hope is not in ourselves but in the resurrected and resurrecting One — Jesus Christ. Past deliverance fosters our hope in future deliverance — a purified hope seeking the Source Himself. Indeed, it is a pleasing pain when it leads to dependence on God instead of self-reliance. This is the place of joy, peace, and contentment (see Psalm 131).
Death may loom, but the light of new life breaks through in the exact moments and places of despair. He will deliver us again!
My Book is OUT NOW!
Posted on January 14, 2022 Leave a Comment
Today is BOOK LAUNCH DAY! Get your copy of my book A Student’s Guide to Justification from the following book sellers and online outlets:
Truly Happy: Rudolph, Augustine, and Our Misfit Hearts
Posted on December 21, 2021 3 Comments
As everyone knows, the day after Thanksgiving is when Christmas celebrations can begin in earnest. Most of us would permit the spinning of holiday records and purchasing one’s Christmas tree at this point. Though corporate America and malls start advertising Christmas around Halloween, after Thanksgiving we can all jump in with few qualms of conscience. So, where was I on the day after Thanksgiving this year? Reveling in the Christmas spirit, of course!
While visiting my parents in suburban Atlanta, we decided to enjoy a performance of the Christmas classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at The Center for Puppetry Arts downtown. This is a place my mother had taken my brother and I as kids, and now she was thrilled to be taking her grandsons. The show followed the story and art of the original 1964 movie, while adapting it for puppets. A fusion of a projector screen in the foreground and the fantastic work of the puppeteers interspersed throughout the beautiful set in the background made the show special and the story fresh.
Rudolph has been a favorite of mine since childhood. I like the story, the music, the humor, and the fact that all the original animation was done entirely in Japan (fun fact!). The central theme that misfits matter and can serve unique and important roles in society is beautiful and even gospel-esque. I was reminded of the simple beauty of the story’s theme as I experienced it anew with my children in a different format.
One line that stands out in the story (and I’m by no means the first to notice this) is one uttered by King Moonracer, the winged lion and lord of the Island of Misfit Toys. When Rudolph, Hermie, and Yukon Cornelius (my favorite character) ask King Moonracer if they can stay on the island as misfits themselves, the king responds in a curious way: “No, that would not be possible. The island is for toys alone.” Yukon Cornelius mocks Rudolph’s rejection by the king, saying, “How do you like that? Even among misfits you’re a misfit.” That stings. He’s right. Even on the Island of Misfit Toys, Rudolph can’t find a place of belonging and rest. He can’t find a home.
It’s at this point when a profound quote comes out of the mouth of King Moonracer. He makes it clear that the island is not a permanent home or place of rest for anyone, even the misfit toys themselves. The king clarifies, “A toy is never truly happy until it is loved by a child.” The toys that inhabit the sad isle of his dominion are never at rest or truly happy until they find the love that they were made for—the love of a child. Though their broken dysfunction has kept them from finding this happy relationship, their ultimate hope is that they would know this love that would restore even the most peculiar misfit.
As I heard this line for perhaps the twentieth time in my life, I was struck by its similarity to the most often quoted line of Saint Augustine, the early church father from North Africa. At the outset of his historic spiritual memoir The Confessions, Augustine prays, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You” (1.1.1). He confesses the deep ache of every human’s longing heart. Our hearts desire their home. Our hearts desire true happiness. Our hearts desire the love for which we were made. Augustine had learned, as many more believers have, that his heart’s home, place of rest, and source of true happiness was in the love of God. It is found in the perfect love of the Heavenly Father who made us—this God who made us out of his own Triune delight and who, ultimately, did so that we might find our deepest solace within that delight.
Augustine’s story is Rudolph’s story. It is the story of the misfit toys. And it is also our story. We are broken and lonely. We long for a home and can’t seem to find it. We were made for love but feel loveless and misdirected. We try to find it in our own hometown, but we often strike out on our own to find it elsewhere when rejected by family and friends. We’re often disappointed by those who were supposed to love us better, to love us as their own, but who instead seek to better themselves through us or ignore us. This is why the earlier scenes with Rudolph and his dad, as well as with Hermie and his boss, are painful to watch.
There is good news in the Rudolph story: eventually everyone appreciates Rudolph for who he is and his surprising usefulness (there’s a happy ending for Hermie and Yukon Cornelius as well). But there’s even better news for us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is what Augustine had discovered. It’s what so many other believers throughout church history and across the world have found. When we were defective, misfit sinners, God in Christ drew near to us in love: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Though we were aimless, purposeless, and without a home, the Lord has made us his own: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10). And, through the gift of faith in his Son, our Heavenly Father has given us rest: “For we who have believed enter that rest” (Heb. 4:5a).
In light of this greater good news, we all can be truly happy, though true happiness is different than how we naturally conceive of it. True happiness is not found in the fickle affection of even friends and family. It is not found in a new holiday purchase. It is not even found in your favorite Christmas movie or tradition. As King Moonracer and Saint Augustine remind us, we can all only be truly happy when we experience and revel in the love of the One for whom we were made. In Jesus, we find this transforming love. We find a Father who is outgoing and who runs out to meet us as misfits wandering on the way home (Luke 15:10). We find a Father who rejoices over us with gladness, quiets us by his love, and exults over us with loud singing (Zeph. 3:17). In his arms, we can rest and be truly happy—now and forevermore.
Advent and Christmastime are an invitation to again experience the breathtaking beauty of God’s love for us in Christ—to let the anticipation grow as we await its fullness in his eventual return.
**This post was originally published in 2019 with Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy — Covenant Theological Seminary’s theology blog**
Guiding Teenagers Toward Life with God, Part II [New Blog Post on Rooted]
Posted on November 19, 2021 Leave a Comment
I wrote this article for Rooted as part two of a two part series. It’s ultimately about prayer. Here’s the lead-in: “We don’t have to get God to like us or love us through our prayers. God is already favorably disposed toward us because of Jesus.”
Guiding Teenagers Toward Life with God, Part I [New Blog Post on Rooted]
Posted on November 10, 2021 Leave a Comment
I wrote this article for Rooted as part one of a two part series. Here’s the lead-in: “When our students articulate confusion about relating to God, we have an opportunity to engage with them personally and to walk with them in discipleship.”
Crushed For a Season [New Poem]
Posted on October 28, 2021 Leave a Comment
Background
In this poem I connect the image of winemaking with that of suffering, grief, and growth. The winepress is a symbol both of judgment and discipline as well as celebratory rejoicing. Wine resembles and signifies blood, but it is also a sign of the coming kingdom of God.
Suffering and death precede resurrection. A grain of wheat can only bear fruit if it dies. God disciplines us as sons and daughters, though it is never pleasing at the time. We wrestle with spiritual forces of evil, and yet one day all the sad things will be made untrue and there will be a banquet of new wine and feasting.
Along with these biblical themes, I had these two passages from Paul’s epistles in mind:
that I may know [Jesus] and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:10-11
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church…
Colossians 1:24
Crushed For a Season
Crushed for a season Fruit freshly gathered Churning, burst squeezing Mayhem’s sloshing lather Can chaos contain Any meaning sweet? And ferment’s decay Grow, give, make complete? Where nothing happens And all seems forgot Could one imagine A lesson be taught? Might a yeasting stink Yield a better thing? Lush, gushing and pink Rich pleasure bringing? Only when He treads Winepress of delight Wounds that flow and spread Succor, glory bright Taste and see He’s good Spirited drink best With us bleeding, could Mingle, mature, bless
A Poem for Fall: Stillness Moving
Posted on September 9, 2021 Leave a Comment
Background
Fall is the best season. Hands down. As the first hint of the changing leaves appear (and college football season gets going) I instinctively rejoice and relish the stretch from Labor Day to Thanksgiving. It doesn’t hurt that this time of year reminds me of when Mary Jane and I fell in love and got married. It’s a time of beauty, and reflection. It calls for poetry.
I wrote this poem a few years ago after a run in the park as the sun was setting on a beautiful Fall day. In it I explore the paradox of the stillness that can be found while still physically in motion. We experience this paradox particularly as we slow ourselves down to attend not only to the beauty of our surroundings, but also the peacefulness contained in each noticed breath. There is glory all around for us to attend to and enjoy — the omnipresence of the Triune God (who abounds in steadfast love through Christ) only enhances this rich experience.
Stillness Moving
OUT in out IN Pace for pace Breath for breath Rhythm to observe Light's escaping Shadow's return Wonder embrace me Painted hues Shrouded for now Outlined cloud Signals sun's parting Moving still Stillness moving Sovereign in session Relish the autumnal glory Breathe, breathe
Pre-Order My New Book!
Posted on July 10, 2021 Leave a Comment
I’m excited to share that my first book will be published in January! It’s called “A Student’s Guide to Justification” and will be a part of the Track series with Christian Focus Publishers partnering with Reformed Youth Ministries (RYM). I hope that it will be a helpful, short book on an essential Christian doctrine — the heart of the gospel itself. It’s geared towards teens and young adults, but I hope it will prove beneficial to all who read it.
While there will be more to share about the book in the coming months, you can pre-order it now on Amazon.
Feel free to share with anyone you think would be interested in it. I appreciate any support you could provide!
What is Bible-Saturated Youth Ministry? (New Article on Rooted)
Posted on June 4, 2021 Leave a Comment
I wrote this article to youth ministers and parents for Rooted on how to foster a Bible-saturated youth ministry. It’s part of a series of posts they are doing on their vision statement:
“To transform youth ministry so that every student receives a grace-filled, gospel-centered and Bible-saturated discipleship in the church and the home.”
Moment-By-Moment 