Posts Tagged ‘compassion’

Lessons Learned in the Chemo Lab

I’m sitting here in the chemo lab with liquids slowly dripping into my body. The IV taped to my left hand limits my movements to this chair for the next six hours. All the research that I did in advance could not have prepared me for this day. And trust me, I did research it to have an idea...

September 19th, 2012 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Saved by Semantics: A Conversation with Love

I’ve thought a lot about how to write this piece. I wanted it to be witty and pithy, angry and abrupt. I wanted to compare my new age, religious wordplay to the golden-tongued trickery of used car salesmen, excuse me, I mean certified pre-owned vehicles sales associates. I wanted to reference...

September 5th, 2012 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Being In The Right

One of my father’s favourite quotes is: “There’s nothing more dangerous than someone in the right.” It’s a quote that comes from the context of living in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, where many people on both sides of the community believed they were firmly ‘in the right’. When...

August 29th, 2012 | Featured | Read More

The Danger of Living like the Joneses

I continue to marvel that here, in the 21st century, we are still so deeply wrapped in the notion that we must keep up with the Joneses. We are so tied to not only wanting but needing to prove ourselves perfect that we end up sacrificing a large portion of who we are and who we are designed to be. Is...

August 9th, 2012 | Family | Read More

Bag Lady

The woman pulled the red stocking hat down over her ears. The wind whipping through the alley singed her skin with cold. She held the collar of her coat under her chin. Wished she had a scarf. “It’s worth the cold,” she thought out loud. “What’s in the food box is worth anything.” She...

July 21st, 2012 | Fiction | Read More

Just Gotta Love ‘Em

This piece was first featured on www.susiefinkbeiner.com Tonight I visited a friend in a psychiatric ward. Nothing dramatic happened. No violence or smelly rooms or scary people. Very little “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest” stuff going on there. The halls were clean and brightly lit. The...

July 9th, 2012 | Essays, Featured | Read More

In defense of Jonah (part III)

When I mentioned there were other reasons I wanted to study the book of Jonah, I had a specific one in mind. It’s the good news of Jonah, in the form of a question: Who wrote the book? Jonah did. He authored a book that would make him look like a stubborn and selfish jerk for millions of people to...

June 15th, 2012 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Real Men Cry: a Theology of Tears

I still have to slightly bend to the right for my hand to meet my little girl’s upward stretching fingers. She can walk on her own now, though it’s a bit agonizing to watch her progress, each step holding the possibility of a skinned knee. She is much more stable when we hold hands, so we do, and...

March 3rd, 2011 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Compassion: A Universal Ethic

Apologetics is usually a term that conjures up a weighty, wrenching sensation in my stomach. I have to admit my biases. I envision images of pointed fingers, King James Bibles, Chick tracts and loud Christianese. You know – the language of overly zealous Christians who want you to see their way...

December 7th, 2010 | Featured, Social Justice | Read More

The Dangers of Fashionable Compassion

Let me preface this piece by stating that there are followers of Jesus who are doing amazing things and living the gospel in accordance to how it is written. These people are giving all of themselves to Christ, living generously, and caring selflessly for the oppressed. I worry, however, that caring...

October 7th, 2010 | Featured, Social Justice | Read More