On April 10, my wife gave birth to Katelyn Quinn River McRoberts. She’s a joy! Since we returned home from the hospital, several loving and considerate family members have swing by in the evenings to deliver dinner! We have felt so loved and cared for by these sisters and brothers. That’s what food is perhaps … Read More
Christianity
Real Estate vs Bible School
Had a really enlightening conversation with a new friend the other night. He leaned across the table, shouting over the sound of the music and the conversations at adjacent tables, “My mom wanted me to go to Bible school.” I leaned in. “Why didn’t you?” “It didn’t feel right. I love numbers. I mean, I … Read More
What You Make Matters
What you make matters. No matter what that thing is, your work is essential. Here’s why I think that: This Summer will mark my 20th year as a professional artist. While my first album was released in 1998, the process really started a year before that when my landlord told me that what I made … Read More
@ Sea Podcast #11: Audrey Assad
The line between what is sacred and what some may call “secular” or “profane” is a famously difficult line to navigate. Volumes have been written and argued over regarding where that line is, how to recognize it and how to communicate that line to others. My guest on episode 11 is songwriter and advocate, Audrey Assad. Her work … Read More
Rob Bell, The Shack And The Doorways We Don’t Like
Do I want people to encounter God or do I want to control the circumstances in which that encounter is allowed?
@ Sea Podcast #10: David Dark
My guest on Episode 10 of the @ Sea Podcast is author David Dark. I call him an “author,” perhaps because that’s what he may be best known for. But David is also a professor at Bellmont University in Tennessee, a huge music nerd, a collector of insights and wisdom and a kind of translator … Read More
Politics and Spiritual Formation
In all honesty, I don’t care much about President Donald Trump, The GOP, the DNC,… For me, politics is a matter of spiritual formation. Certainly, it matters to some degree what you and I believe to be true in the political realm. But those beliefs and perspectives take root in our souls; and our souls … Read More
Notes From Jubilee 2017
I took a truckload of notes at The Jubilee Conference. Instead of dump them all out, here are a few highlights and the thoughts these highlights stir in me: – “In chaos, tyranny thrives.” -Jon Tyson I realized that I am often drawn to gatherings like Jubilee (and Jubilee specially) not so much by a … Read More
Don’t Quit.
My religious tradition uses the word “evil” or “darkness.” Steven Pressfield calls it “Resistance.” And while there are volumes written about it, the one thing I’ve come to know/believe about evil/darkness/Resistance is that it plays the long game. More than anything else, darkness or evil counts on you and I quitting at some point. So don’t. Getting … Read More
Earning The Right To Christmas
If I want the public practice/expression of my faith to be welcomed by those who don’t share it, I get to (have to) earn that right. I’ve never argued someone into respecting my faith. Ever. I’ve only ever lived well enough that folks who might even despise my religion choose to respect my practice of … Read More