By: Russell Chun on April 6, 2023
Bondye se plas dous mwen (Creole) or Dieu est mon “sweet spot”(French), God is my “sweet spot” My thoughts on God as my sweet spot. God in my audience and on stage – my director. My prayer. This week, two Haitian women appeared in both my weekly job training class AND my Intermediate Grammar class. …
By: David Beavis on April 6, 2023
Why I Could Never be Elon Musk For better and for worse, Elon Musk has been in the spotlight for years. People are fascinated by the genius billionaire – a real-life Tony Stark. Ferociously driven with intelligence few can parallel, when one thinks of an individual leaving his or her mark on the world, it…
By: Greg McMullen on April 5, 2023
Daniel Nettle’s research spans across a vast range of fields such as health, psychology, individual differences and personality, and evolutionary sciences as well as in topics such as social inequality, cooperation, deprivation, and biological aging. Having a little more time this week with injuring my hand, I was able to do some deeper research on…
By: Jean de Dieu Ndahiriwe on April 5, 2023
Daniel Nettle in Personality: What makes you the way you are? Reminded me of my interactions and ratings in some of these, like Enneagram, DISC, Myers-Briggs, Maxwell Leadership assessment, and others. I like what he had to say about attachment theory. Attachment theorists argue that the mother-infant bond forms a kind of relationship template which…
By: Eric Basye on April 5, 2023
Dr. David Koyzis received a PhD in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame, where he taught for more than thirty years at Redeemer University College. As stated on Global Scholars Canada, Koyzis’ mission statement is to disseminate to the larger world the riches of a Reformed Christian worldview, especially as it…
By: Andy Hale on April 5, 2023
Where were you on January 6, 2021? Our family was driving back from an incredible National Parks road trip to Utah, where we took in the beauty and serenity of Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion, and the Grand Canyon. Somewhere between East Texas and North Louisiana, I checked my phone at a gas…
By: Kristy Newport on April 4, 2023
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk is the “go to” book on trauma and interventions in treating those who have suffered from horrible events. I thoroughly enjoyed taking the online course Dr. Van Der Kolk provides and learning the interventions and theories he proposes for a practitioner’s clinical use. Dr. Van…
By: Tim Clark on April 3, 2023
“Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10 It’s an open secret among our church staff that if you’re in the car when I’m driving, you are taking your life into your own hands. My wife tells me it’s not because I’m a bad driver, but because I am a fast driver. My…
By: Roy Gruber on April 3, 2023
David Koyzis is a Political Science Professor and a Global Scholar since 2019. He holds a Ph.D. in Government and International Studies from Notre Dame. His book, Political Visions & Illusions, seeks to help Christians think through and navigate the complexities of faith and political engagement. Since I did not know what being a Global…
By: Kally Elliott on April 3, 2023
It’s after 2pm and I’m just sitting down to write this blog post. I know better than to try to write cohesively after 2pm. The afternoon is not a good time for me to try to think creatively or even to try to organize my simple thoughts into a readable blog post. By 2pm I’ve…
By: Laura Fleetwood on April 3, 2023
I saw a meme last week that said, “Don’t work God into your schedule. Work your schedule around God.” That’s a good introductory thought for a review of Vincent Miller’s book, Consuming Religion. This book examines two forces that are at work in the world: religion and consumerism and how they interact with each other.…
By: Tonette Kellett on April 2, 2023
Vincent Miller, in his book Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture, talked about the commodification of religion in our modern society. There are many examples that can be given of this, but I think my favorite example is the church’s love for and adoration of Mother Theresa. [1] Modern Christians will…
By: Caleb Lu on April 2, 2023
I can’t remember the last time I listened to an entire album. I used to love listening to entire CDs. And because I only had a few, I knew everything about the artists. I think partially, I could go deeper and learn more about them because I wasn’t exposed to as many. There weren’t ways…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on April 1, 2023
Many Americans are born into a consumer culture. Our bodies and hearts are hardwired for a consumer system and our brains follow, knowingly or unknowingly. Can we possibly disengage ourselves from this life routine and worldview? Miller and Clark: Christians Entrenched in a Capitalist Landscape Vincent Miller, author of Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice…
By: Chad McSwain on April 1, 2023
Your Easter Shirt Finding the right outfit for Easter can be challenging [1]. You want to look good in the pictures and rightly convey the meaning of the day, but, no worries, I received an email from my favorite t-shirt company with the perfect shirt – marketed in a timely manner, of course. In fact,…
By: Troy Rappold on March 30, 2023
Patrick J. Deneen finished writing, Why Liberalism Failed, three weeks before the 2016 presidential election. Although unplanned, the timing was impeccable, and in part, explains why this book has made such a big splash. This book is not about policy and whether Republicans or Democrats have the best approaches. This book speaks to the cultural…
By: Kristy Newport on March 27, 2023
Personality, by Daniel Nettle, has been sitting in a pile of books on my shelf, ready to read, for a couple of months. I looked forward to reading this book as I typically enjoy books on psychology and any information which will aid me in helping clients in my clinical practice. Unfortunately, I found this…
By: Russell Chun on March 27, 2023
Ready or not MAGA hats, t-shirts and banners will be resurfacing again in preparation for the U.S. Presidential Election. Whether you agree or not, the above slogan speaks to Duffy’s comment. “Our analysis of Donald Trump’s success in the United States showed how ‘nativism’ –the sense that your own people, those born in the country,…
By: David Beavis on March 26, 2023
“Just do buy it.” Living in Portland means visiting the Nike employee store at least once. Nike is based in Beaverton (a suburb of Portland). Many of the congregants at the church I serve at work are Nike employees. About a year ago, I got my first Nike Employee Store pass. I entered the store…
By: Noel Liemam on March 26, 2023
“Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything: A Theory of Human Misunderstanding,” by Bobby Duffy, reminded us how much we needed to look to each other for guidance and at the same time to be vigilant about seeking what matter most. And not only that but the truth may never be the common knowledge or what…
