Wayward Son

Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo. I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.

by

A Thanksgiving Post

No comments yet

Categories: Meanderings (look it up)

Has anyone else on Facebook had their feeds filled with people expressing thankfulness for something different each day through the month of November? Longest. Meme. Ever. 🙂

I didn’t choose to participate in that exercise this year, not because I’m ungrateful for at least 30 things, but mainly because I didn’t want to risk being self-indulgent with it. In other words, I felt that by the time I started scouring the outer reaches, I’d be expressing thanks for things no one on my friends list really cared about.

This is a preview of A Thanksgiving Post. Read the full post (905 words, estimated 3:37 mins reading time)

by

The Path Toward Healing part 4: A New Community

1 comment

Categories: healing wounds, My Story

In case you’re just tuning in, you might want to start with Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. This post isn’t officially part of the Path Toward Healing series, but it’s apropos as well.

In the previous posts, I’ve largely dealt with the fallout associated with my departure from institutional Christianity, particularly in suffering at the hands of institutional churches and leaders who for one reason or another felt threatened by that decision. Today, I’m going to begin turning the focus less toward what was behind me, and more toward where I found myself, and my new spiritual surroundings, if you will.

This is a preview of The Path Toward Healing part 4: A New Community. Read the full post (890 words, estimated 3:34 mins reading time)

by

The Path Toward Healing part 3: Salt On the Wound

No comments yet

Categories: healing wounds

In the previous “official” post in this series, I talked about the question of coming to grips with broken relationships left behind once we decide to leave a certain situation (like a church). I shared a bit of my own story, and how I felt the need to differentiate between forgiveness and reconciliation.

I wish I could say that this was the only time in my journey out of institutional Christianity that I had to deal with injustice (and subsequently forgive). But it wasn’t. And it probably won’t be that way for you, either. There were many times along my path that salt was thrown onto my wounds by church folks, and particularly by church leadership–people that had nothing to do with my Church Left Behind. Lemme ‘splain.

This is a preview of The Path Toward Healing part 3: Salt On the Wound. Read the full post (1138 words, estimated 4:33 mins reading time)

by

Stuck

No comments yet

Categories: General, How I am

I actually wrote this post last Sunday, Oct. 21. I don’t know why it didn’t go live automatically. Silly WordPress.

Since I wrote it, I’m doing much better, both physically and emotionally. Thanks for asking.  🙂

It’s interesting how throwing one unexpected and unfortunate event into an established routine can show you the worst of yourself. The event that entered into mine yesterday has thus far shown me the following.

1. I am a friggin’ baby.

2. I am stubborn.

3. I am self-absorbed.

4. I hate to feel stuck.

 

This is a preview of Stuck. Read the full post (998 words, estimated 4:0 mins reading time)

by

The Path Toward Healing part 2: Those We Left Behind

1 comment

Categories: General, My Story

I started generalizing a few weeks ago about my journey of deconstruction, and how it is ultimately a path toward healing, and how healing really should be the goal of anyone following a similar path. I decided to turn this into a series of posts, for two reasons: 1) I’m on the threshold of a lot of new things personally, and I think it is a good time to stop and take inventory of where I’ve been and how I got here; and 2) I know a lot of people reading this blog are on a similar journey, and I feel that documenting what I’ve learned in this process could be helpful. Ironically, while I mentioned in the last post that the path toward healing is a progression from looking backward to looking forward, initially in this series there will be a bit of looking back. I say this because coming to grips with the past (so far as it depends on me) has been a key to my ability to embrace my future. Hope that makes sense.

This is a preview of The Path Toward Healing part 2: Those We Left Behind. Read the full post (2233 words, estimated 8:56 mins reading time)

by

Movie Trailer From The Director

1 comment

Categories: movies

So I mentioned I might be posting the trailer for The Director’s new short film, which my family has been working on all summer. The trailer just came out this week, so while I plan to continue my series on “The Path Toward Healing,” I just had to share this with you. Pretty stinkin’ proud of this guy.

Also, the music on the trailer is original, written by me. (Not bad for orchestra-in-a-box, or whatever you call it.)

 

Permanent link to this post (80 words, estimated 19 secs reading time)

by

The Path Toward Healing

1 comment

Categories: healing wounds

I frequently refer to my transition out of institutional Christianity as a path, or a journey. A lot of people who follow this here blog are going down similar paths. But paths don’t simply lead away from something–they lead toward something (or at least, they should). Ultimately, this path should lead toward healing.

This post might easily turn into a series of posts, because there’s a lot that can be said about this topic, from a wide range of perspectives. But I’m just going to start by sharing some general and personal thoughts about my own path, and see where this “path” leads. 🙂

This is a preview of The Path Toward Healing. Read the full post (834 words, estimated 3:20 mins reading time)

by

The Dangerous Business of Change

1 comment

Categories: Rantings

Does anyone else out there feel sometimes like they just bring out the worst in people?

Despite what some of my longtime readers might think, I’ve never been one to court controversy. I don’t go into a situation with the intent of stirring the pot. Usually, my default mechanism when joining a work place, or a community, or a conversation, or whatever, is to go along to get along. Keep my nose clean. Go with the flow. Make friends. That kind of thing.

This is a preview of The Dangerous Business of Change. Read the full post (979 words, estimated 3:55 mins reading time)
1 2 … 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 … 81 82