Personal

I became an “egalitarian” in college, before I became an Anglican in seminary. It’s taken some time for me to get used to the different contours of the women’s ordination debate within Anglicanism. Growing up, the debate was all about particular Bible verses and whether or not women could teach and preach. However, in Anglicanism, although those same questions/arguments are present, I hear much more about whether or not women can administer the sacraments as priests. ...

Last night, the scale read 192.4. I’d really like it to read 180 or less. So, in lieu of how effective putting money on the line via StickK has been for my daily writing habit these past two weeks, I’ve decided to put money on the line as motivation to stick to the Slow Carb Diet for a month. For my writing habit, I’ve committed to writing 500 words toward my dissertation every day for 8 weeks. For every week I’m unsuccessful, $35 goes to the NRA. (I’m a pacifist. I do not like the NRA.) ...

Right now, I’m using the RSS readers Inoreader and Reeder to subscribe to the following blogs: Snakes and Ladders – by Alan Jacobs Farnam Street — A Collection of Signal in a World Full of Noise. Seth’s Blog Study Hacks – Decoding Patterns of Success – Cal Newport James Clear Barking Up The Wrong Tree – How to be awesome at life. The Appademic » Technology, productivity and workflows for academics, students and other nerds McSweeney’s Internet Tendency Lifehacker – Do everything better What are you reading? ...

I need to finish this dissertation. To do so, I need to write regularly. For me, that means writing every day—a minimum of 500 words every day. Last spring, I did a pretty good job of writing regularly. However, I’ve fallen off the wagon for various reasons, and it’s been a bear to get back on! So, I’ve decided to put some money on the line, using a service called StickK. ...

This is a self-indulgently long story. The gist of it is that my wife, Rachel, was unexpectedly induced due to gestational hypertension at 37 weeks, right before we were supposed to head to Pennsylvania for her sister’s wedding. After a lengthy induction and labor, our beautiful daughter, Eva Joy Steele, was born at 5:46am on Friday, July 20, 2018. If that’s all you’d like to know, great! If you’d like to know more about what went down, keep reading. ...

Maybe you, like me, consider yourself quite the introvert. Maybe you, like me, have a difficult time walking the tightrope between feeling quickly overwhelmed by interpersonal relationships, on the one hand, and feeling incredibly lonely, on the other hand. Maybe you, like me, feel these problems acutely as a male (although I’m sure that females are having their own relational struggles as our culture increasingly pressures us all to be “alone together,” looking at our screens instead of looking each other in the eye). ...

Getting Things Done (“GTD” for short) is a widely popular personal productivity system invented and popularized by David Allen. However, as Nicole Dieker at Lifehacker pointed out in 2017, “You don’t hear a lot of people talk about the Getting Things Done productivity system anymore.” I think that’s a shame because it’s a very effective system. I first tried Getting Things Done after reading “What’s Best Next” by Matt Perman and then reading “Getting Things Done” by David Allen (in its newly revised 2015 edition) shortly thereafter. ...

I was recently privileged to see one of my favorite bands, The Oh Hellos, in concert at the House of Blues in downtown Chicago. I love all of The Oh Hellos’ music, but one song, in particular, has remained poignant to me ever since I first heard it. The song is called “The Truth is a Cave,” and I think it provides a beautiful picture of what I’m calling “the theological journey” – the stages one goes through in one’s knowledge of God. ...

Rachel and I just got back from our very first trip to the Southwest. The main reason for the trip was to visit some good friends of ours, the Smith family, in Phoenix, AZ. Here’s a picture of the group of us together after church at Living Faith Anglican Church in Tempe, AZ, where my friend Peter Smith is the rector. The trip was a blast. It was great to catch up with the Smiths and to see their new home and church in Arizona. ...

We’re Expecting! In case you haven’t heard the news, my wife Rachel and I are expecting our firstborn child this August! Rachel is currently 16 weeks along, and we won’t find out the gender of the baby (whom I am affectionately calling “Lump”) for another month. The last few months have been quite busy for us since we found out Rachel is pregnant. She works full-time as a Family Nurse Practitioner. I’m a full-time Ph.D. student. We’re both actively involved in our church. Etc. etc. However, the next few months also promise to be busy as well! I’ve got a dissertation proposal to defend. We’ll be traveling for our siblings’ high school graduation. (Lord-willing and baby-waiting) we’ll both be in my sister-in-law’s wedding this Summer (I’m the officiant). And then? Then Lump makes his or her appearance! ...

The following is an attempt to tell my testimony, the story of my Christian faith, in approximately 500 words. It was challenging to do, but also a helpful exercise! I challenge you to write out your own story in approximately 500 words. Testimony For as long as I can remember, I have known and followed Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. However, there has been a lingering problem in our relationship – on my end. Of course, this problem is called “sin.” But, I mean an even more specific problem: my struggle to know Jesus, and not merely to know about Jesus. ...

As I prepare for my final semester at Beeson Divinity School, it strikes me just how well I was prepared for my seminary education by my undergraduate professors at Cedarville University. All things considered, my time at CU exposed me to the riches of biblical and theological studies, and it left me hungry for more. College gave me a love for Christ’s gospel and Christ’s Church – which has only increased since I arrived at Beeson. ...

Do you know what the worst thing about death is? It’s not the dying itself – its the separation. That is, we don’t suffer the most from our own deaths (a one-time occurrence), but from suffering the deaths of others (repeatedly). Instead of living relationships, we are left with distant memories. A sad reality, to be sure. What if, however, we could use death to our own advantage? I’m convinced this is the truth behind Ecclesiastes 7:2 – ...

I’m scared. Are you? Specifically, as I wrote in my journal this very morning: I’m scared – I’m scared of wasting my life, I’m scared of not being worth anything outside of the classroom. Fear drives so many aspects of our lives – from how we dress, to how we raise our children, to how we elect our leaders. And, if we’re honest with ourselves, fear can play a large role in what/whom we worship. ...

Ah, the joys of summer reading. Here are a few of the books I’m currently diving into: Hoping to be able to read German with a dictionary by the end of the summer! Karl Barth’s theological bombshell. I’m trying the Slow-Carb Diet and kettlebell swings. ...