Thanksgiving 2019

Setting Screen Time

China has been a fixture of the news cycle lately. Between the ongoing trade war and negotiations with the United States, the freedom protests in Hong Kong, and the self-disgrace made by American companies like the National Basketball Association, there is always something going on to show their growing impact. 

The Potter's Process—11/15/2019

What About the Lost?

While doing some reading online, I discovered a very challenging question:

I love my friends and family dearly, and I'm so blessed to have them... But sadly I could count my Christian friends/family on one hand. Heaven is always described as this amazing place without sadness and pain which is awesome and all, but how could I ever be joyful knowing that my loved ones aren't experiencing it with me? Where do they go? Will they be persecuted and sent to hell? If so does that mean I will never be with them for eternity?

From Kanye to Cartels

On November 4, 2019, nine U.S. citizens, six of them young children, were gunned down in northern Mexico in a vicious drug-cartel ambush. This senseless evil is but the latest act of violence resulting from a broken American society demanding drugs and a broken Mexican society providing them. It has turned much of Mexico into a lawless warzone in which more than 100,000 people have died in the last decade. Clearly, some important policy work needs to be done on both sides of the border. However, there are other, deeper answers that must be found.

Understanding Unconditional Love

I was recently listening to a sermon in which the minister used the term “unconditional love,” and it gave me a mini-epiphany. It’s a concept that I have occasionally had arguments over because I am not very fond of it. I even briefly discussed it in a previous article. While I still back that position, this was an opportunity to reevaluate it and gain some perspective. And perspective, it turns out, is the issue.

The Imperishable Seed

I recently came across an interesting factoid that ties well into an important spiritual truth. In 2005, scientists planted a seed that had been discovered in 1965. The seed had been found in the ruins of Masada, an ancient Judean fortress located in modern-day Israel, and has been carbon-dated as being 2000 years old. Incredibly, it sprouted and has been growing ever since. And it is additionally interesting that the plant is a Judean date palm. That particular variety has been extinct since the 14th Century, so it represents not only new life for a single plant but also the "resurrection" of an entire species.

True Transformation

There’s a take on transgenderism that I feel is worth mentioning, even though it is certainly no epiphany. Plenty of other people have mentioned it before. But this is less about originality and more about the importance of reinforcing truth.