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.

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No Matter What Science Now Says, In My Heart Pluto Will Always Be a Planet

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Categories: food for thought, What the heck was THAT?

When I was in third grade, I wrote an essay about the solar system. In it, I imagined I had a special space ship that let me travel to all the planets one by one and describe them. Pluto was most definitely on the list.

I’d tell you what Pluto was like, but I guess it doesn’t matter now, because a couple of years ago a group of scientist eggheads who think they know better decided Pluto wasn’t a planet anymore. Now Pluto is just considered one of several “dwarf planets” in what we now call the Kuiper Belt, a group of objects flying around out past Neptune. Pluto is just one of the larger objects.

This is a preview of No Matter What Science Now Says, In My Heart Pluto Will Always Be a Planet. Read the full post (556 words, 2 images, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)

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Lord, Help Us All

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Categories: What the heck was THAT?

[Tongue-in-cheek alert]

So some of you will remember that since September, I’ve been helping out some friends of mine with worship music at a church plant they are doing. Which means I have spent the past several months back in a more traditional church setting. It’s surprising that I was actually invited to do this, because I let these guys know up front where I stood on certain issues, but they agreed to take me as they found me. They also believe in our desire to see an out-of-the-box missional creative thing happen here, and I believe they’re sincere in wanting to be part of that process.

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Embracing the Changes

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Categories: creativity, How I am, missional, moments of truth

So you’ve probably noticed that over the past few weeks, the number of my posts here has been dwindling considerably. I generally try to get over here at least three times a week, but lately I’ve been fortunate to post once a week. A couple of weeks ago, I simply asked a couple of questions, and the comment section ended up providing enough content to do us all for a month! 🙂

But there is a reason for the reduced posting. I’ve been working on some things on this end, and now it’s time to let you know what I’ve been up to.

This is a preview of Embracing the Changes. Read the full post (817 words, 1 image, estimated 3:16 mins reading time)

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The Myth of the Consumerist God

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Categories: food for thought, Meanderings (look it up)

My family and I were having a conversation the other night about some of the honest struggles we sometimes have with faith in God, and what that even looks like. In particular, when we either ask God for something that doesn’t manifest, or when we believe something was of God that didn’t turn out the way we thought or hoped, it raises some questions in our soul about trusting God, or about trusting our perceptions. Did we ask wrongly? Did we hear correctly? How can we trust our perceptions in the future?

This is a preview of The Myth of the Consumerist God. Read the full post (1459 words, 1 image, estimated 5:50 mins reading time)

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What Makes It "Church"? A Followup Question…

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Categories: church, Things that make our brains hurt

Thanks to all of you who put in your two cents’ to the question on my previous post, about what specifically makes church “church” for you. (Let’s see…I think that currently adds up to 14 cents.)

That converstation has prompted me to ask a followup question:

Several of you made references to the church involving the gathering of believers. Where does this idea come from? Not to say we shouldn’t gather, but what exactly prompts us to include the idea of gathering in our definition of “church?”

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What Makes It "Church"?

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Categories: church, Things that make our brains hurt

I haven’t been on here in over a week–sorry, been juggling lots of little appointments and assignments while battling fatigue–but if you’re still on board here, time for a little interaction…

I was thinking about something that happened about 3 years ago, a friend of mine from a mega-church attended a weekly Sunday evening worship gathering we had in our home for awhile. He particularly enjoyed the worship time and the teaching, but he stopped coming. A few months later, I saw him, and he explained that he had no trouble with us, and he loved what was going on in our living room–but because it wasn’t on Sunday morning at a church building, he just didn’t feel like he’d been to church.

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Coming Up for Air

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up)

You probably haven’t noticed (or maybe you have) but I’ve gone almost a full week without posting here.

Gasp! What’s happening to me??

Actually, I’ve spent the last week being pretty much consumed with tasks in front of me that I believe HAVE to be done NOW, solving problems (or trying to, anyhow), etc. It’s taken all my attention, and when I’m not doing that, I’m too fatigued to do anything else.

This is a preview of Coming Up for Air. Read the full post (943 words, 1 image, estimated 3:46 mins reading time)

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Adventure Worth the Risk

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Categories: food for thought, Meanderings (look it up)

When I tell people much about our recent story, how we’ve pulled up the stakes, left our home of ten years to move to another place where we knew few people and had no set prospects for an income–all because we wanted to explore a better quality of life by focusing on pursuing our God-given passions and gifts–I usually get a predictable array of responses. Some people say they are happy for us (and the loved ones in our lives genuinely seem to be); but some say it a bit wistfully, as if to add, “I wish I could do that.” And some say it, but it’s apparent they don’t mean it–because when someone takes that kind of a leap (especially if it is successful), it flies in the face of the excuses they’ve made for themselves not to pursue their own dreams, and the bitterness in their soul causes them to resent the ones who’ve done it.

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And a Special Thanks to All the Dancing Mexicans

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Categories: Things the Mexicans were doing when I was born

For some inexplicable reason, on the day of my birth, thousands of Mexicans donned their traditional clothing and danced in the streets in celebration.

They have done so every year since.

Except, it seems, in Denver. They’re holding off the celebrations here until the weekend.

But that’s not the Mexicans’ fault. They don’t make the rules. They would be dancing in the streets of Denver today if they could. I know, because they do it on this day every year. Thousands of ’em, all over the place. Somewhere today–even if not in Denver–Mexicans will be dancing in the streets.

This is a preview of And a Special Thanks to All the Dancing Mexicans. Read the full post (195 words, 2 images, estimated 47 secs reading time)
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