Notes

Oct 22, 2026Before figuring out why a mood, a situation, or an outlook is what it is, make sure these can be checked off before considering any conclusion valid: eaten food within the day. Challengingly exercised. Slept at least 5 hours. Seen God within the day.

Oct 21, 2026My mind's mind wanders. You won't enjoy the walk you take with it. I promise you a fall walk in the park, but when we start walking, I wander off the trail, and since we're walking together I'm not separating myself from you, so you come with me as I'm chopping through the forest. And getting stuck with thorns. Now we're lost and have to backtrack to the trail, which we can't find, so we end up in a parking lot, and I say, hey, there's my car.

Oct 21, 2026Changing identities in an old place: you grew up there.
Changing identities in a new place: you've never been there.

Oct 14, 2026An issue I'm coming to face is my relative unimportance. I'm just like everyone else. Whatever is going on internally, externally I face exactly the options everyone else does. I live in their world. Separate internally, uniform externally. Ecclesiastes' conclusion, enjoy the days, must be it. It's all vapor, but enjoy the days. So I stop trying to be impressive and distinct, but I can't fully do that, otherwise I regress to the mean. Or do I? Can I live according to goodness and still understand that this life is a vapor, and that the ability to know Eden but never see it is the reality I live in?

Oct 14, 2026How can you give your children stakes to perform and grace to fail? And is the striving between that and where you are the nature of the curse?

Sep 29, 2026The reason parents don't know how to raise teenagers is that the time it takes them to get to having a teenager alters them so far into parent that they forget the identity of child.

Sep 24, 2026Is that which is true exposed in isolation? When that which is not you is removed, are you left with truth? If so, everyone should be sentenced to isolation until truth is discovered, and then we may enter society once again, in truth.

Sep 17, 2026Maybe what we call excellent in art is just the result of the artist abstaining from the norm. The artist lives in a way, or was raised in a way, that is not normal, and therefore the output will not be normal.

Sep 17, 2026An idea from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: "love the feeling" comes after "love the action." So maybe we treat everybody with love the action, and then the ones we love the feeling for arrive on top of that. Love everyone, and then there's one person you feel love for. There should just be a different word for that.

Aug 12, 2026News has to be registered as true for it to be bad. Therefore the gospel is always good news, because to those who reject it, the news is fake, not bad.

Aug 12, 2026People who know what is real know that there is too much to know, and that they know nothing at all. That is why, out of reverence, they get to know Christ, who knows all things, and wants to know them.

Aug 2, 2026Trials: the ability to witness and experience the presence of the Lord in a way that is impossible through any other means. Therefore their occurrence results in rejoicing (James 1:2). The second level: a trial is not worth rejoicing in only because it's unique, but because of what it produces. With no input other than itself, it produces endurance.

Jun 17, 2026In the same way that I create solutions for problems that don't exist, people talk about Christian solutions to things they haven't experienced. Wake up. Shut up. Sit up.

Apr 29, 2026Remember, you don't belong here, so if you don't feel like you belong, you're right. I like to think that as Christians we're outlaws, no longer bound by the law. But as Bob Dylan said, to live outside the law you must be honest. So be honest.

Dec 12, 2025Christianity is the only religion that ties together wretchedness and righteousness. Man is wretched, God is righteous. God loves man, and gives him His righteousness that they might be with Him again.

Nov 9, 2025It is impossible for any human to grasp the entirety of human progress that has put them where they are. The weight of the gratefulness would be unbearable.

Nov 5, 2025In a small group we were talking about the right way to share the gospel. I wanted to say "no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care." But the tension people feel about sharing their faith is a good thing, and it goes away the moment you throw a catchphrase at it. "Whew, now I don't have to think about it. That phrase is perfect." It becomes a mental problem to be solved instead of a desire to learn how to express it.

Nov 5, 2025Politics is just the conflict of motives. Could politics be entirely replaced by motives?

Oct 30, 2025Complicated is usually bad. Nothing needs to be complicated. Once complicated things have been understood by the masses, what do they become? So it's not a matter of complicated or simple by nature. Complicated is just the absence of understanding, because something complicated, once understood, becomes incredibly simple.

Oct 17, 2025My favorite feeling in the world is warm from the cold. Comfort from discomfort. Yet the most detestable thing is that it must first be cold for me to have my favorite feeling. There is truly no comfort without discomfort.

Oct 16, 2025If you're sad and don't know why, it's not that you're actually confused about why. It's no secret why human beings become sad. It's that you refuse to believe, knowingly or unknowingly, what the true reason is.

Oct 10, 2025I like the moment in Dead Poets Society where Mr. Keating stands on his desk. I do that often. Usually I remember the scene after I've located a new perspective and realized it's useful. I don't go looking for it. It's just the natural path of least resistance.

Oct 8, 2025I don't want to keep underlining and boxing my Bible. It reduces the things inside it to a system of importance. There should be no difference... right?

Sep 15, 2025It is impossible for the recognition of freedom to precede that of enslavement. And is it not the unwarranted responsibility of those who recognize freedom to defend it? Therefore history is the most important subject if we want freedom to continue in this country, assuming there will always be forces opposing it.

Aug 16, 2025The only way my outlook on teaching and parenting would change is if my outlook on truth became more sure and singular, to the detriment of something. The change would rely on believing that what's being lost is worth less than what's being gained.

Jun 16, 2025The key to seeing life right is seeing people right. Seeing people right comes from hearing them right. Take time to listen, care, and give attention.

Jun 15, 2025If the team plays for success, what do the players play for?
The team.

Jun 14, 2025Playlists are like pictures, trying to capture moments, feelings, and presence in the past.