It became a story last week that Karen Pence, the wife of vice president Mike Pence is teaching art classes at a private school in Virginia that holds to Biblical values and expects students and staff to abide by a code of conduct which comports with Biblical teachings. This has drawn criticism because Immanuel Christian School, where Pence teaches, has a policy banning LGBT expressions or relationships. (more…)
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D.C. area school won’t play road games at Karen Pence’s Christian schools because students feel “unsafe”
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Late-term abortion remains in national spotlight as Virginia bill fails
Two Virginia politicians have faced backlash this week regarding statements they made on abortion. What we’re going to do this evening is look at those comments and some of the recent news in state abortion laws.The Commonwealth of Virginia had proposed a law that would have expanded abortion parameters. The bill failed, but many were shocked by the cold manner with which bill sponsor Kathy Tran discussed the allowances under her law, if passed. (more…)
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Bible classes and public schools
Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Virginia, West Virginia, and Florida all have proposed laws which would either compel or encourage schools to offer elective classes on the Bible.No book has influenced America and western civilization as much as the Bible. It is foundational to our laws, ethics, and worldview. It’s references and allusions in film, literature and art are innumerable. The Bible influences our language. Many of our most beloved stories play on Biblical themes. (more…)
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Can a person truly have faith if their life doesn’t show it?
Vegans.
When you’re a vegan, you don’t eat meat or use animal products. Being vegan is a lifestyle.
Now if I said that I was vegan and invited you over to my place for dinner, and you said what are we having “surt and turt….we’re having some fish and steak” and then I was washing it down with a glass of milk, and my kitchen table was on a bearskin rug, and I was eating the meal with ivory handled silverware while wearing a fur coat, and we were facing my trophy wall that had deer heads….” You might start to think “you’re not vegan.”
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Moving day – one chapter closes, another begins
Moving day today. I finished up my pastoral residency in Minnesota.I think of the places where I’ve lived. Columbus, Ohio, my hometown. The place that will always be home.
Bowling Green, Ohio, where I went to college and had some of the greatest times of my life. So much of who I am today I attribute to my time in college.
Deerfield, Illinois for seminary, just outside of Chicago, one of the greatest cities in the world. Even though I was there for four years, I still feel like I barely scratched the surface on all Chicago had to offer.
Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Beautiful part of a beautiful state. Perhaps more than any of these other cities, Fergus Falls felt the most like an adventure when I moved there.
Moving by myself hundreds of miles away to a town that I had never heard of until about three months before I moved there. When I told people I was moving to Minnesota, the response was always “MINNESOTA?! It’s so cold there!”
The legends were true. It was cold. (Although not as much snow as you’d probably think). Although it was also fitting that as we packed up our last things into the truck, I spent my last few hours in windy, sub-zero temperatures. Felt like it was my final exam as a Minnesotan.
It was the smallest place I’d ever lived, but it never really felt like that small of a town to me. I always thought there was so much to do. When I first moved there, I had just gotten into photography. On my days off, I’d find a forest in a different part of the state, drive there, taking pictures all along the way. I’d spend hours just taking pictures. Sometimes on a nice night, I’d go out and take pictures for a couple hours around town. Those are honestly some of the greatest times I had in Minnesota. I loved it. The county had over a thousand lakes. But the sunsets were just as awesome over the farmland.
It was love at first sight. I always thought the area was breathtaking.
It was the first place where I lived with my wife after getting married. She wasn’t from Fergus Falls either. But was just as enamored with the area when she moved there too. It was the first place we lived after getting married.
As I think of all of the art things about the places where I’ve lived, more than anything, the things I enjoy most about these places is the people and the relationships. Everywhere I’ve lived I’ve loved. Because everywhere I’ve lived, I’ve met a lot of people I loved.
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