Truth in a Lover's Words
07.21.08
Spiritual Balance
"That shouldn't surprise us: that's how God designed it to work."

Why God Blesses Us With, "No."
05.30.08
Sovereignty
"One of those plans prevents us from devolving into the freak show world we’d own if we always got our way. We’d probably blame God for that little wonderland, too."

East of Halfdom
05.26.08
Spiritual Perspective
"The Christianity I now know conquered my formerly-prefabricated faith."

Who Let the Songs Out?
04.04.08
Worship Anthem
"What if worshippers didn't have the restraints of religion?"

Spontaneous Corruption?
03.30.08
Christian Music
"Is it that hard to think there'd be more than one way to communicate with the God of creativity, variety, and inspiration?"

The Heartbeat of the Church
03.23.08
The Alive Church
"That sounds so liberal and lazy to my old churches—probably because they can't measure it, codify it, cross it off of their OCD lists. I know; I used to be that checklist guy"

A Dangerous Elephant
01.03.08
Illegal Immigration
"The New Testament church is to welcome sinners of all ranks, all vices. Like Lady Liberty, we are to invite the broken, the bankrupt, and the becoming. But we are commanded to present the whole Truth, the complete message."

Finding My Place
11.07.07
Serving Made Easy
"Almost every week, someone getting out of their car says, 'You look like you love this,' or 'You have way too much energy!'”

Is God in Numbers?
09.30.07
Litmus Testing
"Sometimes, the people who successfully run ministries simply prove equal to their for-profit counterparts. That doesn't make them prophets or wolves; it doesn't brand them omniscient or Satanic. Any extra credibility proves man-added, not God-added."

Death of a Salesman
07.10.07
Evangelism Strategies
"I've also seen heralded "soul winners" and heard slick tactics discussed like fishing lures. They've got marketing materials or "proven" methods they'll share or sell. They mean good. Their goals seem eternal. But I don't remember Jesus persuading anyone, selling anyone. People were drawn to him."

Third Time is the Charm
05.27.07
Baptism Celebration
"This was what baptism was meant to be, how it was supposed to feel, what it was created to communicate. It's designed to be one of the most monumental days in life, a watershed moment. For me—at least this time—it was."

Minutes from the Top
05.12.07
Mountain Top Experiences
"About two thirds of the way up, I noticed a dark horizon to the north. My stride lengthened; and I pushed the pace just a tad, then more then a tad, then to breathless. Thunder. Victory stood at the top with me on the pinnacle boulders."

(un)Dressed for Success
04.08.07
Christian Clothes?
"I should be used to this. We all should be. But I'm too weary and wary to take it anymore: the concept that we dress up for God (that we can impress him)."

Sacrifice of Praise
04.06.07
Broken Worship
"As I sang these words, I struggled to say them. Something inside me pushed me to lift my arms, as the Psalmist requests—as my spiritual heritage condemns as "vain glory." I pushed through my trained restraint, raising my fists above my head, almost victoriously."

Eiffel Power
02.04.07
Sovereignty
"Like Farrell's Harold Crick, I have lived for the past few months with the premonition that my life is at least somewhat scripted, that I have a choice to embrace destiny or pretend with a sense of control. I have talked to invisible ears, asked questions of 'the omniscient third person.'"

Christ-centric Communion
12.25.06
Communion Environments
"It's like all of the fundamentalist litmus tests: they take the elements of superstitious monasticism they can abide and chuck the rest as non applicable. They rip the temple curtain at their point of perforation."

[D]Evolution of the Pulpit
10.30.06
Spiritual Caste Systems
"That pulpit, then, becomes the wall between a certain spiritual have and the have nots. I remember the spiritual place I felt attained by the times my dad lent me his pulpit, a sense of worthiness either doled or earned—sadly the antithesis of what that place should generate."

Can You Hear God’s Voice on MTV?
07.15.06
Random God Appearances
"Too often, I demand my birth rite, my share of my heavenly inheritance. The joke’s on me, though, as I get closer and closer to taking God’s freedom to the pig pen. I’m the chunky chick exposing her immaturity to the watching world."

Psalm 5
06.17.06
Reading Assignment
"Until then, I’m glad for the people and classes that, like tonight, require me to introspect. I can’t wrestle with these concepts unless aware of them. I cannot grow toward a truth without the lesson and path."

Homeboys With a White Board
06.04.06
Church Leadership
"It got me to thinking about what 'church' in America would look like if more churches operated this way."

Regularly Scheduled Maintenance
05.27.06
Revival Meeting-less Church
"You wouldn’t need revival brimstone, trained evangelist clones, or any other superstitious legalism. And I wouldn’t be nervous to bring my parents with me to my new church that doesn’t either.."

The Grip of Sore Knuckles
05.14.06
Spiritual Vulnerability
“Do I really want to pursue authentic Christian Community?” It was the same question as my wife’s, just framed in different words. Am I willing to change?"

The Gravitational Pull of Mercy
05.04.06
Mercy as a Motivator
"In that way, I guess, I connect to David. Like the psalmist, my sin ironically drives me toward him and spiritual closeness."

Designed to Worship
05.01.06
Worship Lifestyle
"But it was like I was trying to excuse my choice of not being a pastor, a thought many preachers’ sons probably struggle to extinguish. I enjoy design and writing. I just assumed growing up that the higher echelon of Christians all had talents they had to abandon to be vocational ministers."

What's Left of Me
04.30.06
Spiritual Surrender
"I don’t think I understand sacrifice or truly want to, but I’m probably closer than I was before."

Long Distance Plans
04.28.06
Barbarian Christianity
"And while it’s true that God doesn’t compare hearts by numbers, he does covet more from us than compliance to an artificial Christian brand. He called the Pharisee’s on it all the time, even dropped the “whited sepulchers” hammer on them."

© 2006, 2007, 2008 biplane productions, inc. & ryan george