“Genitalia are not destiny” – But are they by design?
This is an interesting opinion piece by John Piper. He attempts to lay a theological grounding for why transgender people are acting against “God’s will”.
Category: Uncategorized
Today I Will Rake Leaves
Today I will rake leaves
In spite of the wind
And rain
In spite of the leaves that still remain on the trees
Which will soon fall
These leaves which will watch my work
Knowing that if I simply waited
That when the trees were bare
And the winds continued to blow
That I would not need to
With rake in hand
Occupy my time with raking leaves
Today I will rake leaves because I need to be reminded
My ego has consumed my thoughts
And I am deceiving myself
For whatever that might mean
Reminded that my wants are only mine
Chaos comes and goes like the tide
Yet never leaves
And often beauty and order is temporary
Always temporary
All things are temporary
Today I rake leaves so I can be at peace with the struggle
And realize that it is not a struggle
It is a single movement
With resistance as much a part of the whole as fluidity
The leaves will blow away
Or get bagged
The lawn will appear as green
And clean
I will feel as if the task is done
But it is not
Some may tell me this effort is wasted
I must be at peace with that
As I must capitulate to the rain which also suggests I make better use of my time
Nothing I say or do will change these facts
The leaves will remain until removed
The leaves will fall until the trees are empty
The rain will fall
The wind will blow
And I will rake leaves
Jars of Clay – The Inland Review
It has been almost three years since Jars of Clay released Shelter, a disc which Glenn McCarty of Crosswalk.com heralded as “a clarion call to unity” relative to the Christian community. Lead singer Dan Haseltine noted, “…we were already thinking about a project that would be specific for the church.” But on Inland, their first release as an “indie” band, the central focus is a bit more existential.
In an interview with Hans Schiefelbein, keyboardist Charlie Lowell says of Inland:
It’s where we all live- caring about work, family, faith, doubt, the world around us- but really struggling to connect them and find lasting meaning out of them all. So we approached this record process with that in mind- our goal was to write in those specific moments of humanity, and to put the many voices we have accumulated over the years behind us.
Since 1995 when their debut single “Flood” further closed the gap between pop and Christian music, Jars have been a band that refused to compromise their faith nor their crossover viability. For every directly religious “Love Song for a Savior” there was a more universally accessible “Work“. Yet even amidst the brambles of praise and pop music that is their entire catalog, they always managed to present the subject matter with a poetic elegance so both believer and non-believer alike could take in the experience.
Being Agnostic allowed for a first hand appreciation of Jars’ artisanship, a sentiment which I thought peaked at their 2006 release Good Monsters. It is with great joy that I announce Inland as the new standard. Taking its theme from The Odyssey, the new disc asks the listener to reflect on their pilgrimage through life. The beauty in its presentation is that you do not need to have faith in God for the message to resonate.
I AM BWF 