The Way of Water

Posted on March 20, 2025 by awtraughber

This recent post by Seth Godin is too short to share a snippet here, so you should take a minute to read the whole thing.

Discernment is an important thing, perhaps more important with each day that passes.  In yesterday’s reading from Jeremiah 3, God makes this promise to Israel:

And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

It’s a good promise (because God Himself is good), and a reminder of our lack of knowledge and understanding.  And even if we have lots of knowledge, as many probably do, understanding is also a good and necessary thing.

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The Waiting Turned Around

Posted on March 7, 2025 by awtraughber

We’re about three weeks from getting a full, new album from Mumford and Sons.  While I’ll always be grateful for their 2018 release, Delta (it was part of the soundtrack to my Scotland trip), I’m also grateful for what sounds like a back-to-basics sound for the band.  Don’t get me wrong, back-to-basics doesn’t always work out in the long run, but it can be a nice change for a time.

Here’s the second “release” from Rushmere: “Malibu.”  I’m sure there’s an interesting story behind it.  It’s definitely got some scriptural nods in it.  I also like the turn of direction in waiting.  “I Will Wait” was all about waiting for someone (or Someone) else.  “Malibu” turns that around some, which is nice.  Check it out:

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The Tension between Space and Time

Posted on March 6, 2025 by awtraughber

It’s not every day that you see a post online that (inadvertently) has something to do with the title of this blog.  But that happened a couple of days ago over at Seth Godin’s blog.  Here’s how his post called “Across and within” starts:

Media theory pioneer Harold Innis saw it 70 years ago:

Some cultures and ideas are built to spread across SPACE.

And some spread across TIME.

It’s the tension between space and time that lead to the rise and fall of societies and cultures, and they’re worth understanding.

It’s an interesting post, one that I can follow for the most part.  My favorite snippet, apart from the opening lines is this:

Systems under stress expose themselves, and when you feel the stress, it’s worth looking for the juxtapositions that are causing it. In this case, it’s worth asking whether the idea that’s changing things was built to last or built to spread.

That’s a great diagnostic tool, one that could definitely lead to some interesting conversations.

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A Song for the Season

Posted on March 5, 2025 by awtraughber

Marked on the front end with Ash Wednesday, the season of Lent begins today.  Here’s a recent song by Andrew Osenga that captures today (and everyday) wonderfully.

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Loose Ends at Lent

Posted on March 3, 2025 by awtraughber

It won’t be long until Ash Wednesday begins a new Lenten season.  And while deep roots for neither of these moments exist in my own tradition, I am grateful for the opportunity they supply for both reflection and action.  And, as with many such times, they are great for trying to tie up loose ends in preparation for whatever is next.

I’ve been working on Nicholas Carr’s Superbloom for a few weeks now.  I’ve got three chapters left, which I’d like to finish by the end of next week.  I’m almost done with Truly Seeking God by Bernard Bonowitz, ocso.  I came across the title a few weeks ago over at Erik Varden’s blog and am very glad that it is everything Varden said and more.  The book is a nice primer on monastic life, both in the abstract and the personal.  It helps that the chapters are short and can be read between stops on the bus.

I just finished up season two of The Recruit on Netflix.  I started the show a few weeks ago thinking it was The Night Agent.  It is not.  But I actually enjoy The Recruit more.  I’m hoping that the show gets picked up for a third season, but the season two finale was much better than the season one finale, which wasn’t much of an ending at all.  I’ve got one episode left of The Night Agent, which I’ve also enjoyed (but which is also a more straightforward show compared to The Recruit).  It’s already been picked up for another season, which is good.  Community viewing these days is Severance on Apple+.  The second season has been worth the wait, and every episode packs just enough punch to keep the questions coming.

The third quarter of the school year is wrapping up.  We’re done next Thursday.  Things are planned out well for the next week-and-a-half, but “the best laid plans of mice and men” and all that.

I’m still formulating things when it comes to Lent (and spring break) plans.  I’ll definitely keep as much of my routine going as possible.  Beyond that, there’s car work to be done as well as dermatologist and chiropractor visits to take care of.  I need to attempt a perpetually-pushed-back deep clean of the apartment, too.

My more liturgical friends recently asked me what I was doing for Lent.  I’m more of an “add things in” and a “shape what’s already there” guy than a “give this up” guy.   I think I’m okay with that, though I could be wrong.  I like how one Franciscan friar put it: we are journeying with Jesus as a reflection of his own time in the desert, and that time in the desert was above all a time of intimacy with the Father.  I find great comfort in that.

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Choices and the Day-to-Day

Posted on February 19, 2025 by awtraughber

My favorite quote from a great piece by Kirsten Sanders about Christianity and the nature of everyday life:

Discernment doesn’t mean that you are responsible for the result of your own choices. It means that at the end of your life, your choices tell a story.

The whole piece is Frederick Buechner-level good, but that quote has a nice turn to it, a turn that happens in the second sentence.

Every choice we make, good and bad, tells a story.  A story that isn’t finished yet, for sure.  But a story in the making nonetheless.  The results are often beyond us, if not immediately then ultimately.  And that’s okay.  “Not even the wisest can see all ends,” Gandalf once said.  But God knows, just as He knows our hearts, and there is great comfort in that.

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Filling Out the Summer of Superman

Posted on February 5, 2025 by awtraughber

The crown jewel of this summer’s cinematic experience (for me, at least) is Superman, which drops July 11.  Now we’re starting to get a better sense of the movies that will (hopefully) fill theater seats in the days around Superman.  Yesterday we got our first look at Fantastic Four: First Steps.  Here’s that teaser:

Looks good, better than I’d expected.  I’ve wondered for years how the MCU would incorporate its “first family” (just like I’d wondered how it would incorporate the X-Men).  Looks like the multiverse is going to be the way that it happens.  It will be interesting to see how well the movie stands on its own while also setting things up for Marvel’s next few big movies.

The other release that I have hope for, and whose trailer dropped today, is the new Jurassic Park . . . I mean, World, movie: Jurassic World: Rebirth.  I hope that the casting of a name like Scarlett Johannson means the movie will be serious fun.  The trailer makes me think so (which is kind of needed after the previous World movies, which probably took themselves a little too seriously).

Jurassic World: Rebirth drops July 2 while Fantastic Four: First Steps drops July 25th.

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Good Words from Seth

Posted on January 27, 2025 by awtraughber

Seth Godin has had a few resonant posts for me these last couple of weeks that are worth bookmarking and sharing.

In this post, he talks about slowing down and speeding up.  The post’s last line: Hurry, but don’t rush.

Godin says something significant about systems here and interestingly distinguishes between problems and situations here.

He gives a great word about “process culture” here and points out a significant truth about education and learning here.  I really like the title of that one: “Don’t Steal the Revelation.”

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A Long January

Posted on January 26, 2025 by awtraughber

April may be the cruelest month, but January feels like the longest.  That seems to be the way that some people feel, at least.  Maybe it’s because the end of December is more loosey-goosey and less defined and then the page turns to January and not even a mid-month holiday can help it’s thirty-one days feel like an unexpected trudge.

I’ll admit: it took me about three weeks to lose the shine of the joy from the Christmas holiday.  The latter half of this past week was rough on a couple of different levels.  Yesterday was a step in the right direction to “get it back,” but maybe that “shine” is really a holiday thing anyway.

A “long January” is the perfect reason for humility and grace when it comes to things like “new year’s resolutions.”  I like to think of it as a whole month to get your footing, because a good year is a long game.  And while I don’t have any particular resolutions, I do have habits and practices that I hope to get better at.

So this time next week we’ll be freshly into February.  But for now it’s January just a little bit longer.  And that’s okay.  Let the car warm up, do your stretches, get your ducks in a row.  2025 is just getting started.

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Sentence Stems for Two Conversations

Posted on January 19, 2025 by awtraughber

There are two kinds of sentences that one should hear at church or in relationships with other Christians.  One should be primary, the foundation for everything that could follow.  Unfortunately, the second one has become the actual primary sentence stem, and (as good as things might be), things are worse of for it.

The primary conversation with Christians should begin with “What has God been saying …” or “What is God doing …”  These bring the reminder that God is always at work, that He is present and real and the proper foundation for things.  The real is relational.

The secondary conversation can then move to the “Could you …” or “Would you …”  Because life as we often choose to set it up requires people to get things done.  Remove the primary conversation, though, what you end up with is systems management and people as pawns in programs.  This becomes something like institutional instrumentalism, and while it gets things done, it comes with an unnecessary long-term cost.

There has to be room for both conversations, but primacy should be given to the first, especially in the long run.  The Christian faith is more than program management.

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