Safe Haven

5 Thoughts For Today 5. The Braves made a huge mistake, trading Martin Prado to the Diamondbacks for Justin Upton. The Upton brothers are not that good, and you're just doubling the disappointment. 4. At the risk of sounding like the Church Lady again, I don't think Danica Patrick realizes or cares that she's still married in the eyes of God. And fornication is still a sin, even if she wasn't. [Maybe she's not, you know...--ed.] Fat chance. I do suppose all these "remarried" Protestants will eventually pose a problem, a conundrum, if you will. [Well, you can't stop divorced Catholics from "remarrying" and having sex.--ed.] Touche. Lord, have mercy! 3. I think Love moves in small ways. God is like a father beckoning us to get in the pool. He won't let us drown. How stupid is it to run the other way? [You hate water.--ed.] Just go with the metaphor, OK? 2. Hey young evangelicals: If you're so 'prophetic' into this politi...

I called Anne Lamott a "decadent snob," and I didn't feel bad about it. Well, I sort of do. I don't know Anne Lamott. I've only read parts of several of her books. I had to stop "A Severe Mercy," because it seemed...gratuitous. Calvinism has this weird influence on everything; we give each other spiritual points for being more messed up. It's supposed to make God seem greater. After all, he did say, "He who has been forgiven little loves little, but he who has been forgiven much, loves much." On the other hand, isn't God glorified by our obedience and our transformation into Him? The people who blather on publicly about how "broken" they are [Warning: I'm about to generalize, probably unfairly.] have either A) figured out that it gains them some currency to do it; or B) are burned out from trying so hard. The first group is presumptuous, and the second is proud. The whole cursed thing is Pelagian. And that's ironic. ...

In one sense, I love the song. It's a song written by a real guy living a real life. Like the Incarnation itself, it's as if the spiritual sensibilities of the song quietly invade a very broken life. What good is redemption if we don't the see the depth of our need? Moreover, we're not going to win any prizes pretending to be spiritual when we're not, or at least pretending to be better than we are. Cohen doesn't waste any time attempting to convince he's the pope. And there is some mysterious relation between sex and God that deserves exploration, not sweeping under a rug. The reason Billy Joel says, "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints/The sinners are much more fun" is that it's kinda true. It's not actual saints that are boring, it's that we all have the fear that loving God will be quite a boring affair, and the things of this world have an allure. If they didn't, they wouldn't be good. The ...

I keep having the same dream. A dream about reconciliation. [You mean Reconciliation?--ed.] No. Besides, that's an ever-present reality. I dream that one day, a wound will be healed. It must be a powerful desire, because this is the sixth time I've had the dream. As if by some divine comedic coincidence, the theme for this day is reconciliation and reunification. I pray that it will occur. Though I cannot say for certain that I feel ready, and filled with enough grace to facilitate it, I pray for this, also. That Barrett guy is at it again. We were colleagues at seminary for a brief time, and I've become a friend of the family. I envy him, the clear way that he thinks and the dispassionate way he makes an argument. You can get under my skin. I think less clearly when I'm angry or upset. Turner? Good luck. He's like a Vulcan or something. What I find most insidious about the prevailing flavor of the Protestant hermeneutical paradigm (HP) is that there are no ...

5 Thoughts For Today 5. Write a song. 4. Pray a prayer. 3. Listen to Beethoven for 3 hours just to be hardcore. 2. Eat spaghetti with sauce, and some with only butter, in case someone says you shouldn't. 1. Stop killing your children.

I'm announcing it, in case there was a doubt. Andrew Preslar has given me some things to think about via Ed Feser. I'll keep it basic, because I have a basic brain. Not everything the state does is theft. Indeed, the very notion of constitutionally-limited government presupposes that within those limits is the government's legitimate function. To what end? The common good. And what is that? It is at least the conditions necessary for each person to attain his end, first natural, then supernatural. I realized what was happening in my thinking over these past years when I thought of the welfare state itself, how it began as a great spasm of compassion for the less fortunate, how its very existence is the measure of self-worth for the progressive. And the great insight, the great truth that emerges from its creation and reflection upon this creation is that the government exists for the people. Yet we are individuals; we are self-aware as individuals; something of those inal...

Sports is and always has been fertile ground for exaggeration and ill-considered sentiment, but we have hit a wall. Last night, Ray Lewis said when asked about the Baltimore Ravens' shocking victory over the Borg Collective also known as the New England Patriots, "No weapon formed against this team shall prosper." Later he exclaimed, "God is amazing!" I agree. But would he be less amazing if they had lost? Please tell us how your team winning is obviously fundamental to the saving purposes of God in Jesus Christ. What should the losing teams say? Are they forsaken? You know, what's truly insidious about our culture and our nation is that we're very spiritual after a fashion, but it bears no relation to reality. Religosity is an affectation, like a piece of jewlery. The reason I don't want to fight in the War On Christmas is that I don't want God any further domesticated than he is, or rather, I don't want to participate in our feeble attemp...

You probably have heard that Stan has gone to his rest now. You can look up his dizzying statistics if it suits you; there is no need for me to do that here. The chase is this: Musial is one of the 5 best to ever play the game of baseball. But I want to tell you about the time I met Stan. I was 12 years old. He came to a park near my house. Of course the autographs were free. He smiled at me, shook my hand, and signed my ball in blue pen. Being a baseball fan is a lot like being Catholic; there's a great Tradition that you become aware of, names you speak in reverence, and a whole host of other things. But if someone else gave it to you, you take it for granted. I took that day for granted. Wherever that ball is, it reminds me to slow down, to understand, to live the moments again. So many things become greater upon reflection. I never will erase that smile from my memory. Everything that has been said about him as a man must be true, because the smile lingers in my head. You d...