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The struggle for Spiritual Discipline

I've recently finished the book "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry" by John Mark Comer. It is a great and thoughtful book filled with thorough research. I really related to a lot of his arguments and I highly recommend it. The book centers on the problem of hurry in our everyday lives. It talks about how hurry contributes to high levels of anxiety and the negative effects it has on our spiritual lives. The book is a big advocate for the need for discipline especially for Spiritual Disciplines- which is a great struggle for many. Which got me thinking, what spiritual disciplines work the best in a world that is filled with hurry and distraction. Ultimately, I do think it is up to us to make the necessary changes that ensure our lives are not filled with busyness. But this will look really different for everybody depending on career, stage of life and other factors. So the suggestions I make in the blog today are just that... suggestions. You can do with it as you please,
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For my dog Kiwi

I didn’t get wakened up by my dog today. I didn’t get a chance to make her breakfast or let her go outside to pee. This morning she wasn’t in her usual spot, behind her pink soother toy, waiting for me to throw it so she could chase it. I got Kiwi almost 12 years ago. We had just gotten married and Shaula worked 7 straight nights shifts (11:30pm to 7:30am) at the hospital, which meant I was sleeping all by myself in our house for a week! On many nights, I would hear noises, some would say it was just something outside, but I was sure it was a ghost. So that’s why we got Kiwi. She would provide me company, friendship and much needed protection- that is, until we found out she was blind. Kiwi was special, sure she was blind and had digestive problems, but she was sweet. She loved us, even when we got mad at her, she wouldn’t hold a grudge- she would just love us period. And we loved her too. We loved her so much. That’s why it was so hard to say goodbye yesterday. When we had to pu

DavidTube: What I'm watching (April Edition)

Hello everyone!! I want to start a monthly series on what TV shows I'm watching. If you don't know me, I am in love with TV. I love a good story. I love characters and themes and all the complexities that each of them brings. I love stories that make me think, that make me question and further ponder things about reality and the human experience. Yet, I also like shows that don't make me think at all- I just like to enjoy, laugh and escape. So without further to do, here is what I've been watching this past month (April) *Warning: Spoilers below* Ozark (Season 3) Wow! I'm so happy a lot of my friends told me to watch this show!The series stars Jason Bateman and Laura Linney as a married couple who are forced to to relocate their family to the Ozarks, following a money laundering scheme gone wrong. In many ways, the show really reminds me of Breaking Bad (which was a really great show) I see a lot of parallels between Walter White and Wendy Byrde- the deeper you

Thoughts on Discontentment Part 2

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about discontentment which you can find here . Please read that blog first, it will give more of a complete context of what we are talking about. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I have been reading and working through Timothy Keller's book , 'Making Sense of God' and he devotes a whole chapter on Discontentment (Chapter 4). It is a fascinating chapter and I wanted to engage and interact with his thoughts and the themes he brings up in the chapter. I want to primarily focus on how a Christian worldview explains the issue of discontentment and fulfillment. Previously,we looked into how discontentment affects us all, whether we lived in ancient or modern times, discontentment is a problem for everyone. A good question that Keller poses is this, "What is the cause of this seemingly inescapable condition of enduring discontent?" One modern theory summarized by Jonathan Haidt as the "Progress Principle" says that, "

Thoughts on Discontentment

For the past few months, I've been working through Timothy Keller's book 'Making Sense of God'. It is a fascinating book that is thought provoking and well researched. His chapter on discontentment (Chapter 4) alone is well worth the price of purchase. I want to provide some of my thoughts on the chapter, but I am not attempting to solve the problem of discontentment, so be nice to me. These are not my final thoughts either, so I may blog about this again. The chapter begins with Psychologist Jonathan Haidt's book, The Happiness Hypothesis, which provides a historical survey of thinking about happiness. He quotes the book of Ecclesiastes  which says, "I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards...I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and harem as well- the delights of man's heart...I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pl

After the Sermon..musings

Good morning everybody! I wanted to start a periodical section in the blog called "After the Sermon..musings". It will contain more of my thoughts and notes that didn't make yesterday's sermon. When we create sermons we have so many ideas, so much more research and other great stories that we don't get to share because of time limitations and flow considerations with the rest of the sermon. So what I want to do with this blog is to provide supplemental thoughts and research to last Sunday's talk, which you can find here . Yesterday, we talked about Daniel and the growing pressure on him to compromise his beliefs and to assimilate to the larger Babylonian culture. Fast forward to today and we face a similar culture where there is a growing amount of societal pressure for Christians to conform. In their fascinating book, Faith For Exiles (2019, Baker Books)- David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock provide ample research to show where the church (18-29 year olds) is at

Welcome!!

I have returned!! I haven't blogged in about 5 years, but I thought I'd do it again! I'm probably going to blog about random thoughts I have on faith, mental health, movies/tv shows, sports and other things that come to mind. This is going to be therapeutic for me and I hope you come along for the ride! Will post more content soon! - David