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I try not to romanticise the perfect Bible reading time or writing time, because with 3 kids and 4 dogs and 2 cats it ra...
07/11/2025

I try not to romanticise the perfect Bible reading time or writing time, because with 3 kids and 4 dogs and 2 cats it rarely happens like this, and that's okay, because the chaos is a gift. But every once in a while, I get a quiet, misty morning with good coffee and cows out my window and a plethora of ideas for the blank page, and my soul sings.

I'm working on expanding the Subscriber Library for paid subscribers. Today's project is on Leviticus, and I'm still working on the Study Guide for the Shorter Westminster Catechism. (I had to call in an expert opinion from my pastor Grandpa, because I was all the way stumped for a while, but happily, I can continue on now.)

Life is crazy and busy and anxiety-inducing, but there's still these good, sweet, quiet moments, even in the midst of the hullabaloo.

New post on Substack. On how we trust God without shirking responsibility.
05/11/2025

New post on Substack.

On how we trust God without shirking responsibility.

28/10/2025

"The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There is not one of them which will not make us into devils if we set it up as an sbsolute guide. You might think love of humanity in general was safe, but it is not. If you leave out justice, you will find yourself breaking agreements and faking evidence in trials 'for the sake of humanity', and become in the end a cruel and treacherous man." -- C.S. Lewis, "Mere Christianity"

The most peaceful sound I know. This is the thing little boys imagine when they dream of being a cowboy, and the fulfill...
24/10/2025

The most peaceful sound I know. This is the thing little boys imagine when they dream of being a cowboy, and the fulfillment of countless unspoken prayers within my heart.

24/10/2025

The most peaceful sound I know.

This afternoon, I found myself wishing I’d remembered to grab a pair of hobbles so I could hobble my horse.Hobbles are a...
24/10/2025

This afternoon, I found myself wishing I’d remembered to grab a pair of hobbles so I could hobble my horse.

Hobbles are a sometimes controversial tool, whereby you “hobble” a horse’s front legs, with enough slack between the two that he can stand comfortably, but not so much that he can take any large strides, thus keeping him in a small area, even without a fence or standing tied (so long as he is trained to them…otherwise they just go rabbit hopping across the prairie and you’re stuck walking.)

I could write you a treatise on why I think it’s actually imperative that a horse at least know how to stand hobbled, but that’s not the point. The point is that I think hobbles are often misunderstood because they are a bit paradoxical, because to me they represent both security and freedom.

Security, because the hobbles say “stand just here. This is your place in the world. You are safe here. You are under my care and I will protect you. Don’t worry.” Freedom, because they also say “you need not stand tied with your nose to the fence; no, move, eat, and enjoy your autonomy, and your security.”

And isn’t God’s law much the same? Oh, it sounds overbearing, perhaps cruel, even, at first glance. But like hobbles, when we begin to dig deeper, and are appropriately trained to it, the law becomes a gift; security that says “this is the boundary. This is your place in the world. This is how you move through it peacefully” and also freedom, because it does, indeed, say “move. Enjoy the things within the boundary. And enjoy the security that living within the law brings.”

Leviticus can seem like a dry book, but I've been reading through it and trying to seek God's heart, in the context of O...
22/10/2025

Leviticus can seem like a dry book, but I've been reading through it and trying to seek God's heart, in the context of Ortlund's book “Gentle and Lowly,” which tells us the heart of Christ is “gentle and lowly” and that God is merciful and gracious. In that context, Leviticus becomes a book that isn't just arbitrary rules, but the way in which God draws His broken people closer while still satisfying His justice and holiness.

And even in the law, we see His mercy. Often, there is a caveat: “But if he is poor and cannot afford it, let him bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford…”

Sin demands a bloodprice, but God does not desire a man to break himself completely to afford his restitution, or worse, to go without it.

So God, in His mercy, makes away.

Sin demands blood, but God desires you. So much so that even under the implaccable law, He made a way.

Behold this is your God: Emmanuel, who makes a way to be with us, in spite of us.

New post available on Substack!New posts drop on Mondays, there, so be sure to subscribe to get immediate notifications!
21/10/2025

New post available on Substack!

New posts drop on Mondays, there, so be sure to subscribe to get immediate notifications!

19/10/2025

I don’t often comment on politics, but today, I’ve been pondering a question.

Do we, as a collective church, truly believe that God is active, and working, even in governments and crowns and kingdoms? Do we believe He is sovereign over even the highest powers? Do we trust that He can turn even the most wicked of purposes to His own glorious ends?

Do we really believe that?

What would change if we did?

17/10/2025

We recently acquired another dog. (That makes 4, for anyone who’s counting)

She’s the sweetest soul, of uncertain age and breeding, but definitely fully mature. Having been an outdoor dog her entire life, she was markedly uncertain the first time we beckoned her through the front door. But we are not “outdoor dog” people, so she came in upon our insistence.

Over the past few days, she’s settled in. She loves the option to laze in the recliner, and very swiftly learned that little hands at the table often mean some really good snacks.

But she still sort of slinks her way through doorways, like she’s still not entirely certain she belongs, like she thinks her welcome might be revoked. Perhaps it’s just her personality—she is a very mild mannered, even timid, sort of dog.

I hope it’s just a matter of comfort, and that she’ll learn as time goes on that we delight to have her with us, near us, in our presence, and that she does, indeed, belong, because we have called her, accepted her, and made it so.

It got me thinking, how many of us really trust in our welcome at the throne room of God? Do we come boldly before the Throne of God when we pray? The way a child will fling himself into his father’s arms in the face of uncertainty, fear, or pain? Do we really believe that God delights in us as children?

Or do we slink? Tiptoe? Try to avoid all notice and cringe when we feel eyes upon us because surely that will mean Someone has realized that we don’t actually belong here? Do we think that being seen will result in being cast out?

Christ didn’t pay the ultimate price to redeem us from our sins in order for us to tiptoe through our lives and into His Kingdom. He died to reunite us to Himself. He died so that we didn’t have to be separated. He died for the express purpose of eviscerating the sin that cast us out of His presence.

Trust that He delights in you; that He desires relationship with you, and if you love a child or an animal, remember that God’s feelings toward us are infinitely deeper. He loves you. He delights in you. He rejoices in your salvation and longs to give you victory.

You don’t have to slink through Heaven’s doorway. Christ died to ensure you belonged there.

15/10/2025

Part of bearing the image of God is the desire to create.

Of course we create with the things God Created but there is something gloriously satisfying about watching a thing become what it wasn't until we touched it.

Wool becomes fiber, fiber becomes a garment that warms.

Ingredients become a dish, dishes become meals that sustain.

We were Made to labor, and to see the fruits of that labor. I often wonder if part of the mental health crisis is how much of our work is theoretical.

We crunch numbers on a spreadsheet without ever holding the cash. We design graphics that only ever live on a screen. We close deals without ever seeing the thing that was purchased.

We were made for more than looking. We were made to touch, to feel, to taste, to smell. Even words are better consumed on the page than through a screen.

I know, it's a rich thing for me to say, with my thumbs from behind that very screen.

But this isn't the only thing I do. I've grown children, I've trained horses, I've crocheted blankets and sweaters, I've been working to make more things in my own kitchen with my own hands instead of popping a package in the microwave.

It's not possible for everyone to do all these things of course, but I do think it's important.

Find something to make today, something that fills your purpose to labor, that satisfies the desire to create. It won't be a cure, but rejecting our man-made ideals and accepting the way we were Created to function will almost certainly be an improvement.

Just remember our job is only to labor--God produces the fruit, which frees us from the anxiety to succeed. You don't have to succeed, just do, and then see what God does with it.

09/10/2025

Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked shall I return there.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

-- Job 1:20-21

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