From “The Work of the People”

Just wanted to let everyone know, I’ve added a “Now Reading” widget to the Sidebar, so you guys can keep up with what I’m reading and also the awkward way in which I tend to read 3-5 books at a time, beginning new books before finishing the others. Feel free to comment or recommend. I love to hear what other folks are digging into. And yes, I am reading Life of Pi. The best part about it is that I found it (along with a handful of other good books, including the Pulitzer winning, Guns, Germs and Steel) at a church yardsale for $0.50.

Also, new content will be up soon. I’ve just been recuperating from a month of travel.

I had a mentor/professor in college who before becoming a professor was a Franciscan Friar.   Keeping to the Franciscan tradition, he took a vow of poverty and followed it strictly.  For thirteen years, he traveled across Europe with little more than the clothes on his back, living off the kindness of strangers.  In class and in life, he would recite little spiritual clichés, the type of maxims elderly women cross-stitch into throw pillows.  They were phrases that my jaded mind would have completely rejected had they come from any other source; elementary aphorisms like “God is all good, all the time.  All the time, God is good.” or “Having faith is like having a new set of eyes that allow you to see the world as it truly is.” However, there was something different in the words as they were spoken from his mouth.  His voice somehow added weight to these quippy little anecdotes.  They did not sound like regurgitated sunday school lessons or drugstore sympathy cards.  This was because they were words spoken by a man who, by his own life experience, found them not to be comforting or pleasing to the ears, but undeniably true. Continue reading →

I’m a Wilco fanboy. I just saw my third Wilco show, and it blew my mind, once again. I love coming across bits of the Gospel buried just below the surface of pop-culture and music. Here are a collection of gems from Wilco. Continue reading →

As is the nature with many blogs, CS has been on an impromptu hiatus. I went through a New Year’s resolution kick where I decided that I needed to cut back on all of my non-essential spending. Unfortunately, web hosting fees fell into this category, even as nominal as they are. I didn’t count on how much I’d miss this outlet. After months of ideas floating around in my head, searching for a home; minimal web hosting fees have been upgraded to “essential spending”. Sorry, I’ve been gone, but it’s good to be back. New content will be up soon.