Painfully Hopeful

Unpacking Halls of Power

I’ve been striving to allow Satal’s humanity to be presented whenever the character appears. For the most part I’ve succeeded, but we have yet to see any real cracks in her political armor. Until, that is, this section. Let’s unpack. All accounted for? Ama and Talum woke up earlier and departed for the Hall of…

Fiction Tuesday – Halls of Power

Today’s blog is the continuation of, Welcome to the Valleys. If you would like to catch up with the tale, the first section can be found at this link Shortly after Walter filled his plate, Michael and Terrin entered the dining room. Noticing Satal at the head of the table, both men came to attention. “As you were Captain,…

Historic Smithville Park

Yesterday the “shutter hubbies” took a drive to Historic Smithville Park. It was a beautiful day and we we only managed to scratch the surface of it’s trails and sites. Smithville was an old company town, and the ruins of the old factory complex remain on the site. That alone is worth the trip. There…

Looking at Dawn of Justice

The Monday after Easter I headed to the theatre to see Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The film has now been out for two weeks so consider this your spoiler warning. I have to say, when the movie was first announced I wasn’t expecting much. First, it felt too much like a “me too”…

Kingdom Collision

Back in 2008 I preached a sermon series entitled “Kingdom Collision,” which explored the political implications of Jesus’ First Century ministry. My hope for the series was to show how Jesus refused to be sucked into the culture wars of his days. Instead, he offered a complete different perspective than his opponents were expecting1. Given…

Goals

I’m often asked by other pastors what my goals are for my pastoral ministry. It’s actually a question I have some difficulty answering. It’s not that I don’t have goals. I do. The goals I have for my pastoral ministry, however, are often not the “traditional” goals which pastors set. See, when I listen to…