Creative
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I spent part of my morning sitting with Jesus in John 9—it’s the story where Jesus healed the man born blind—and I couldn’t shake one particular moment. Let me set the stage. In the story, the blind man is healed by Jesus and immediately thrown into a theological interrogation. The religious ruling class, the Pharisees,…
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Listen closely. What do you hear? A breath.
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“But, the reality is, I still feel like I haven’t lived up to my dad’s expectations. Or rather, I haven’t lived up to my own expectations that masquerade as the memory of my father.”
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I still wasn’t becoming who I wanted to be. Then it dawned on me, you become what you look at. So if I’m only looking at myself, my faults, my failures, my successes, I will just stay myself. I won’t actually grow. So I looked to Jesus and said “do your work.” Seeing my death…
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All of my feelings well up in my soul. All of my thoughts race through my mind. And more than ever in my life, I just want to call my dad.
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My boys smiled at me as I cried, and then proceeded to spin to the music while screaming at the top of their lungs. And, in that moment I tasted joy; joy unexplainable. A joy so deep and unexpected, it can only be explained as supernatural. I felt the presence of God in that very…
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Today is New Years Eve. The year 2020 is about to become 2021, again reminding us that time does not stand still. Time continues to move on. Through pandemics, through economic crises, through natural disasters, time doesn’t stop. Humans keep growing older, and the universe keeps slowly dying. 2020, to most, has made this truth…
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I remember Christ’s death on Good Friday, celebrate Christ’s resurrection with joy on Easter, then immediately go back to experiencing sorrow and pain by remembering my Father’s death. It is like reaching a beautiful mountain top only to have a storm roll in and quickly rush you off, having you descend in darkness and experience…
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Photo Credit: Philippe Wojazer / Reuters Saturday morning my wife, Stephanie, and I with our friends and family celebrated the new life and coming birth of our twin sons, Abel James and August John Elliott. Gray clouds covered the sky, and a steady rain fell on the ground, a typical spring day in the South Puget…
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John Francis Elliot, my father, died twenty years ago on this day: Where were you at my soccer games? Where were you at my high school graduation? Where were you when I graduated college with honors? Where were you when I joined my soul with my wife in marriage? Where were you? Where are you…
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Today is my beautiful wife’s, Stephanie Augusta Elliott’s, birthday. The more I think about her and all of her amazing qualities and virtues, I realize that I value her birthday infinitely more than mine. For, birthdays are a celebration of an individual’s life, and I would much rather celebrate my wife’s life than my own.…
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Peter Lawler stated in a recent article, “Philosophy is learning how to die, to get over obsessing about your personal significance. Being (existence) itself is not in our hands.” Lawler aligns himself with great thinkers such as Plato, Cicero, and Montaigne in believing that Philosophy has the purpose of preparing oneself to die. Shakespeare even…
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What if I told you I was a Greek god? What if I told you that people offered sacrifices of food and libations to me? Well, it is true. Let me explain. In Greek mythology, gods were built temples in which human subjects would bring offerings of food, drink, and incense. Greek citizens would try…
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A child of five years I was Sitting, waiting, confused. People whispering in hushed tones; People crying with sorrowful groans. A child of five I was; Lifted up, looking at, and wondering why Everyone was watching Daddy sleep. “Why is daddy sleeping?” I asked. No response. I touched his face; I kissed his cheek. He…