I’ve been absent from the internet as of late (and by absent I mean a slight notch down from my usual compulsive addiction) due to two main reasons.

One, I took an impromptu weekend getaway to Seoul, South Korea. One of the advantages of South Asia living is the close proximity to various countries. Seoul was a mere 2.5 hours flight away from us. It was a joy to see another country and her beautiful culture. Although there’s nothing quite like traveling to foreign lands to revisit repressed anxieties from early childhood. Like a toddler with limited vocabulary and zero literacy, we explored unknown territory with fits and starts, committing blunders and cultural faux pas at every turn. Basic command of life functionality were crippled – adventures abroad are not without certain cost to dignity. But also, the opportunity to see the world with child-like abandon and delight, where every sense, sight, smell, sound, texture and taste experienced is a FIRST, serves as a glorious reminder of our deep hunger for exploration and wonder. Thank you Seoul, for your wonderful hospitality.

Two, we got a new puppy. She is a pip squeak, tiny as possibly can be, but already developing a personality larger than her teensy size. She growls at her food bowl, even though it sits there doing nothing except carrying kibble. Out of the blue she’ll start  bombing around the house like someone is chasing her down with an ax. She’s totally weird and adorable and OMG WHAT HAVE WE DONE? Are we freaking OUT OF OUR MINDS to add the rigor of puppy care into our busy lives? So yeah, that’s what life has been like the past few days: oscillating between confusion of puppy behavior, delight in her irresistible cuteness, and utter horror at our unreasonable decision.

Meet Caramel, the Yorkie pup

I am relaunching my Life Changer series – a weekly round up of things that changed my life, sharing it with the hopes of changing yours. Without further ado:

There are a thousand vulnerabilities to writing publicly, one of which is the risk of putting ideas out there in the permanence of the web, knowing you might change your mind. This piece, by Donald Miller, was a comfort to me, to not fear changing, and to even be able to look back on our previous writing with love and appreciation.

Ten years from now, may we all look back and love who we were while hardly recognizing them.

Is Prayer Stupid?

it’s about being humble in the presence of the vastness of life, space, and sensation, and acknowledging our extremely limited understanding of what it all really means.

How are we to Love the Soldiers of ISIS?

First, we are love the soldiers of ISIS, as we do all others, by agreeing with God that each of these soldiers has unsurpassable worth as evidenced by God’s willingness to pay an unsurpassable price for them. 

MKs & Relationships

Do you see how quickly and fearlessly the MK/TCK dives deep?  To the mono-cultural person who craves time to slowly move from depth to depth, the MK appears way too intense. To the TCK who values speedy self-revelation, the mono-cultural’s emphasis on time feels shallow and pointless.  As a result, we (stupidly) reach the conclusion that an entire people-group is relationally flimsy and we write them off with an arrogant generalization.

Thank you to Heather Kopp for introducing me to this newly launched book: Rare Bird. A memoir of a mother who lost her 12 year old son. I am tentative to glimpse into the darkness of grief, but am also irresistibly drawn to a story of a parent who survives all of our greatest fears. Congratulations on the book launch, Anna!

20 Problems with Progressive Christianity – I don’t know what I like better, the content of this piece, or the twist from the typical list post.

I think THIS is one of the biggest problems in the progressive Christian culture and why so few new ideas come out of this trend/movement: Because it seems there’s so little grace for mistakes or for being wrong or for being not completely right… And so many progressives become so intoxicated by their own “pet issues” (ideas that most inspire them or interest them) that speaking into that issue is to risk getting attacked socially online by that individual and their friends…. somebody who fights poverty but doesn’t fight poverty the way one person or group thinks it should be fought, they are ridiculed with rage online. Or somebody who speaks out against our country’s racial inequality but either doesn’t do it exactly the way a person/group thinks it should be done or isn’t the kind of person that a person/group thinks they should be, they get vehemently attacked.

Power and Resistance: What We Can Learn from Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill – Peter Rollins blows my mind on a regular basis.

The point here is that ideological systems operate with a subterranean network of transgressive practices, practices that are needed for the smooth running of the system itself. A Government might, for example, champion human rights, freedom and justice, while implicitly engaging in torture, the creation of Black Hole prisons and imprisonment without recourse to the legal system. These subterranean activities are needed by the system to manage a crisis within that system, but the abusive practices cannot be named.

So, what changed your life this week?