I feel like opening a can of worms, so I’m going to talk politics. Well sort of. You see, I’m sick of politics and the rhetoric that’s spewed from both sides of the aisle bloated by promises that are seemingly never even meant to be fulfilled. The problem I (and others) face, however, is that there doesn’t seem to be enough information about how things are actually knotted up to be able to weave through the muck and start working on solutions. Perhaps an example is in order.
The year that happened “to” us.
Well, it’s a new year. It has been for a couple of weeks now and with a new year comes reflections on the past year. As Gwynne and I sat down and looked back at 2010 we came to the conclusion that 2010 was the year that happened “to” us. Micah was born in December of 2009 and the following year became 12 months of adjusting to what that meant for our life. It’s frustrating when you look back and see a whole year during which you simply seemed to be reacting to circumstances. We realized we sort of had no real goal beyond keeping this little life we’d been given alive.
The Love of a Holy God: Part 3
Well based on parts one and two of this series, there are a great number of ramifications for living as a Christian and as a part of the church. Erik’s thoughts about our loving the poor after part two were particularly convicting, and I thank him for sharing. While the list could probably go on forever, I wanted to share three areas that I think a deeper understanding of God’s holiness and love will force us to change.
The Love of a Holy God: Part 2
Earlier this week I posted part one from my reflection in church this past Sunday about the relationship between God’s holiness and God’s love. Today I wanted to post part 2 which is our own call to be holy and to love and what God’s own attributes of holiness and love mean for how we understand this call.
The Love of a Holy God: Part 1
On July 13, ten students and four adults (including myself) left for Orlando, Florida and the 2010 International Youth Convention of the Church of God (IYC). We were asked when we returned to share with our church what we experienced and the ways that God impacted our lives while we were there.
I decided that I wanted to share the manuscript that was the basis for what I shared in about 10 minutes this past Sunday morning. Over the next few days I will post three parts of a sermon/reflection that I call the The Radical Ramifications for Reality of the Love of a Holy God. Part one deals with the foundations for this worldview, that is understanding the love of a holy God.
Do you know a teen?
Seriously, do you realize how patronizing we are to teenagers? It’s the first night of our youth group’s trip to Orlando and I was blessed to spend the evening with a couple of guys talking about heaven and eternity and God’s love and relationships. All sorts of real, deep issues based on questions that they were carrying around already.
This is what I love about these trips. The time spent realizing how much God is already working long before I pick anyone up and head to a conference.
More to come! (hopefully)
Thoughts on LeBron
I’ve always been a sports fan. I grew up watching baseball and football and basketball. I played all kinds of sports as a kid, and dabbled in soccer and tennis in high school. Athletic competition allows for learning lessons of pressure and conflict in an environment where the ramifications of failure are minimized. Seeing someone excel in the arena of sport can be a beautiful thing.
However, in today’s culture all of this is nearly lost. Sports have become about money, fame, and ego. And this week we witnessed the blackened heart of professional sports. Watching the LeBron James saga play out I have a few thoughts on the whole mess that I’ve been able to pull together.
What’s this blog about?
In a word, culture. The culture of the world as I experience it and the culture of the Kingdom of God as Jesus demonstrates it. Often times, the two collide and the question becomes by which one will I live. I’ve set up some basic categories that seem to be the most prominent in today’s culture – or at least how I break up the things I experience.
Art & Design
Fun
General (ok it’s a cop out)
Politics
Pop Culture
Sports
Theology
I don’t know how much these categories make sense, but they seem to be the primary ones I rub up against day in and day out. If there are any big ones that you think are missing let me know and I’ll consider including them.
What lenses or categories do you use to organize the world I wonder?
Really? Another blog huh?
So I’ve tried this over and over again. I’ve had zero success keeping it going, and yet I still feel compelled to have a blog. I have things to say. Things about design, things about myself, things about God, things about the world around us all, and lots of other things, and I can’t find a meaningful way to say these things.
The assumption that I’m making, of course, is that somebody out there might actually care to hear the things I’m thinking or saying.
To minimize the effects of failure I’m starting this wordpress.com blog. If it goes well and people engage in what I’m saying then I’ll move the blog to a more permanent place – say to http://www.noggingrande.com (which doesn’t exist yet). If it doesn’t, hey no harm no foul.
So there it is, I’ve started another blog and we’ll see how this goes. Feel free to comment on whatever you find here be it good or bad. I just want to engage in conversation with people about topics I find interesting.
Joe Watkins 