Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • ALIVE

    ALIVE

    “As for you were dead in your transgressions and sins…But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead…” Ephesians 2:1, 4-5 The first time you encounter a dead body it changes you. Well I suppose I can only speak out…

  • Walled and Fenced

    Walled and Fenced

    Michael pushed the intercom button just outside the office doors and with a friendly “come in” one of the volunteer receptionists “buzzed” him in. There he stood, in the area just outside the main office door, waiting to see a minister. I was “on call.”   Moments later Michael sat in my office. His hair was…

  • Uncaptured

    Uncaptured

    Uncaptured …surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know…        Job 42:3   Yes, I realize that the title above is not, in fact, a real word but under the circumstances perhaps it doesn’t really matter… Ours is a time that might be described as…

  • “One day when you get small…”

    “One day when you get small…”

    Sermon 5.4.14 Time has a way of fading the details of our memories.  But what I remember about it was a meal in a familiar spot.  O’ Charley’s in Brentwood.   One of those rounded corner booths had our son Noah corralled but certainly not restrained.  He was young and energetic and untamed.  At one point…

  • God is playing April Fools

    God is playing April Fools

    We scanned the bopping sea for children from our car in the elementary school pick up line.  We were looking for my niece who would be dawning a puffy yellow jacket.  She would come out first, followed shortly by my 2nd grade son.  They both would join my preschool age daughter already in the backseat.…

  • What a “church guy” learned at AA (part 3)

    What a “church guy” learned at AA (part 3)

    Five & Five Group (1pm meeting) Friendship House “202” Fall 2009 I returned to the Five & Five Group but this time at another time in the day.  A meeting designated by the name Five & Five meets at “202” every day of the week, three times a day.  Each of the groups is, of…

  • What a “church guy” learned at AA (part 2)

    What a “church guy” learned at AA (part 2)

    Session 2 Five & Five Group (3pm meeting) Friendship House “202” Fall 2009  The GPS led us to a rather unassuming house on 23rd Avenue.  There were no distinct markings on the outside to designate its purpose.  It looked very average.  I could easily imagine myself driving past it with little regard.  The only distinguishing…

  • What a “church guy” learned at AA (part 1)

    What a “church guy” learned at AA (part 1)

    Session 1 Late Lunch Meeting Brentwood United Methodist Church Fall 2009 This was my first experience with Alcoholics Anonymous.  Certainly I had heard peripherally about AA for as long as I can remember.  But it was a world that was altogether unfamiliar.  So it filled my stomach with anxiety in the parking lot.  In some…

  • END IT  (a Discussion Guide for 2.26.14)

    END IT (a Discussion Guide for 2.26.14)

    Discussion Guide 2.26.14 In It To End It based in part on an event based movement to end slavery   It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves…

  • It’s Not About Me

    In an act of desperation they put their baby in a basket and floated him down the river.  Perhaps because they could not bear the thought of having him ripped from their arms and their home.  Gently placing him among the Nile reeds surely seemed more peaceful than the violence that threatened every time he…

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