intersect

"You can see...they are hungry for fun." My friend shared this observation with me last week, as gave me a tour on the Indonesian island of Timor. I was on a two-week teaching trip that included time in both India and in Indonesia -- as well as short visits to numerous airports in other countries around Asia and Australia. Tapping the riches of any culture takes a lifetime, and so one short week in any one place is hardly enough time to begin scratching the surface of understanding a culture, but it is a valuable exercise nonetheless. I've made the case here that "culture" is essentially the shared story that we tell. It's the way that a group of people (however localized or expansive that group may be) expresses what matters, what has purpose, what is right, and what is wrong. If that's the case, then visiting another culture is a lot like listening to a story other than our own. If we pay attention to the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes...

"We can at any rate say that beauty arouses a hunger and a longing which is never satisfied in this world." -- J.B. Phillips Our living room played host to an art show last week. It was a modest affair by the standards of the art world, but a worthwhile show nonetheless. Back in May, our youngest daughter -- a budding artist  herself-- sent out a call for artistic submissions to each of her family members, in anticipation of her first annual art show. Unfortunately, the timing was bad -- and this meant that her art show -- originally scheduled for June 1 -- had to be pushed back a few weeks, to just last week. That allowed time for each member of our family to create something -- a painting, a series of photographs, a drawing, or a collage. Kara opened the show with a short presentation on the importance of art: "Art is important because it is a way we can make something beautiful," she explained. Each participant then had the opportunity to share their piece, a...

Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk, and True Flourishing:  Andy Crouch, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 2016.  192 pages, including charts, discussion guide, and notes. Not long ago, our family watched the well-loved 1993 movie,  The Sandlot . Judging by the way the audience echoed the script right along with the movie, this movie was indeed a familiar friend to many. It's described as a "coming-of-age" movie, one  in which 9 neighborhood boys grow together and grow up over the course of a summer spent at the neighborhood sandlot.  Early in the story, "Smalls" -- the new kid on the block-- is given the chance to play ball right along with the rest of the "in" kids. All well and good, except Smalls has never played much ball, and the first hit that flies his way is just that: a hit, right off his head and onto the ground. His marked inabilities leave the rest of the team quite literally rolling on the ground in laughter, and ...