The Maddening Thing About Beauty |
Thursday, November 07, 2024 |
Fall is a sober spin on beauty. When out for a walk, I never tire of fingering brightly colored leaves in my hand. The hues are so intense that they seem more like a Photoshop project gone wild than a display of unedited nature. But even as I cradle those leaves in my palm, I’m reminded of beauty’s brevity. Were I to scoop up any of those leaves and take them home, by nightfall, they would be curled, and by the following day, their intensity faded. Wh[...] |
When Our Knees Are Shaking |
Thursday, October 31, 2024 |
At the age of 17, he was arrested and sent off to Buchenwald, a Nazi concentration camp in east-central Germany. Eric was sure his fate would be no different than the other 55 thousand who were shot, starved, or hung there. But he survived and was liberated by American troops in April of 1945. Fast forward to 1948. Eric was now 21, and the brand-new nation of Israel was fighting a war for its survival against invading forces from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. With t[...] |
What is Our Problem With Silence? |
Thursday, October 24, 2024 |
America might be the land of the free. But it is also the land of the loud. Research shows that 37% of rock musicians have experienced measurable hearing loss. While hearing damage begins at about 100 decibels, rock concerts routinely clock in between 110 and 120 decibels. And many of our churches are not much better in the volume department. My beef, though, is not so much with how loud we get but how silent we don't get. I submit that most evangelical churc[...] |
Jon Gauger |
Thursday Thought |
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