1. The Bible is completely foreign to modern culture for two reasons – it portrays our rebellion against God as our biggest problem and it was written to people in the context of suffering.
2. The evidence that our culture values the lives of famous entertainers more than the commoners? Whenever someone famous dies this year, watch. You will see posts on social media about how 2016 keeps taking people away. What an upside down world we live in. We should grieve more over the plumbers and nurses. Teachers and preachers.
3. The other night Bethany made Brussel Sprouts with bacon and it blew me away. I don’t even know me anymore.
4. By definition, repentance can never be self-congratulatory.
5. I ate pizza a few days ago, after going more than 30 days without. Like lovers once separated by an ocean, we were reunited.
6. I am amazed at how many people in my social media feeds cared nothing about #Brexit until after it was decided. Then everyone had strong opinions. Now Orlando is a thing of the past. What will you become so intensely passionate about tomorrow that will help line the pockets of the news organizations?
7. Two years ago this week my mom swung from star to star into eternity. I miss talking to her and her joy with my kids. I miss her easy tears and seeing how she missed my dad, even. There is a grief you can read of in a thousand novels and never know until you feel the need to call them but there is nowhere to call.
8. I am not a gun owner. I have no desire to own a gun. But I do not think gun control will solve the problems of violence that ravage our nation.
9. I am thankful for the grammar police. They push me to be more rebellious in sentence structure. And they make want to bust the bonds of punctuation rules. Often.
10. Jason Isbell’s songs reminds me of home. Alabama. He’s from a far more rural part of the state, but the language and view of the world is the same. Even the music sounds like this part of country. You can feel the heat and humidity. Hear the cicada bugs and train whistles in the valley. You can smell the pine trees and the dewy morning air. Getting to see him at the Alabama Theatre in September will be hard to beat. Below is a taste. Turn of the television and watch this:
Echoes and Stars 