Rant of the Exiles

Exodus 33:11a  Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.    A couple months ago,  news  came out that the owner of  Angry Little Asian Girl  (Lela Lee - a fellow Cal classmate but I didn't know her) had brought a lawsuit against  Angry Asian Man  (Phil Yu) for trademark infringement. She asked him, months earlier, if he could change his blog name to something different - presumably without "Angry" in the name. Their brands have been around for years but  Lee  didn't bring it up until recently because because Yu wasn't a professional - making a full-time occupation out of his blog. The whole thing escalated and you can read more details  here . Lee and Yu knew each other casually through various events - they had met in person in the past. However, at no point in their dispute did either party attempt to have a face to face meeting (based on what I read on Yu's blog in...

Does the Bible teach every believer is a member of a holy priesthood? In his book, Center Church (and sermons like this one ), Tim Keller explains how every believer is a prophet, priest, and king. Ephesians 2 describes how each believer reigns in heaven with Christ. In Acts 2:16-19, Peter declares Joel's prediction fulfilled concerning the Holy Spirit's enabling of all of God's sons and daughters to prophesy. And the verse below explicitly states every believer in Christ is a member of a royal priesthood - granted the privilege of announcing God's majesty to a broken world. 1 Peter 2:9   But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Thus, the question isn't whether the Bible teaches all believers are priests, it's whether we actually believe it. And the truth of our belief is indicated by our behavio...

I heard the movie is a psychological thriller so I thought I would read Gillian Flynn's book first. It's sick, twisted, and excellent. I still haven't seen the movie. I loved the alternating point-of-view narrative between husband and wife. Flynn is a little too smart for her own good. It's difficult to distinguish which is more pretentious - her writing or her characters. But the story moves. It's a roller coaster ride through a gloriously dysfunctional marriage into the black depths of a psychopath's mind. Even though the book starts dramatically, it is tough to like the characters in the beginning so the first half is kind of a slog. The second half really picks up as the plott twists get going and the tension accelerates. The thing I enjoyed most about the book is how Flynn depicts the depraved aspects of marriage - as a theater of disguised intentions and an endless war for control. Oh, and Flynn really likes to use  italics . In her book, italics are...

Recently a friend asked me to list my favorite books on manhood. He asked from a place of need because it's lonely being a guy. We're not good at expressing our feelings. It's hard for us to ask for help. We have trouble forging deep friendships because we fear intimacy. We haven't been taught how our violent passion is a gift from God. And we have few role models to patterns ourselves after. Every man has other men who lead him into manhood and although they will never replace iron-sharpening relationships with other men, there are my favorite guides in the journey so far (in order of when I read them, oldest first). 1) Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot Before this book, I didn't understand anything about manhood except that it related to strength, courage, and risk-taking. After I read this biography about Jim Elliot during college, I began to imagine the limitless possibilities of faith, courage, and vulnerability. Here was this guy who riske...

I am not a work in progress I am the final product Crafted by the master and shaped by the son Dipped into death and raised to life Given to Christ as His perfect wife My righteousness cannot improve I cannot be better  I cannot get worse His work was finished on the tree The blood of the Son justifies me My flesh accuses me of failure Guilt condemns me to prison Curse and judgment lead to death Slave to sin and forever trapped  But in Christ the chains are snapped I soar above the roar that is law The written code binds me no longer  Chains of condemnation broken Death has died among the chosen Only life and blessing are now spoken Even when I fall back into flesh I repent return reunite  For in the Spirit there is no fight Only life and peace and flight Walking by faith and not by sight I do not ask for peace or patience His Spirit promises all spiritual blessings A new creation bearing s...

I love his music and when I first watched one of his videos, I was surprised. Ed Sheeran looks remarkably similar to my neighbor across the street. I would mention it to him but I'm confident people pester about it all the time. They're both in their early twenties, about 5'8", stocky, with bushy hair and completely unremarkable features. The main difference between them is Ed Sheeran is a global pop sensation with millions of adoring female fans and I'm pretty sure my neighbor is not.     So what does Ed Sheeran and my neighbor reveal about the nature of sexual attraction?  Women value emotional connection over physical appearance. Both men and women are designed for relational connection but women are especially responsive to heightened emotional expression and sentimentality. The ability to display empathy and communicate passion is huge. And it's not enough for man to merely posses the ability, he must put be able to put it on display. That's wh...

Fresh off the Boat (the book not the show): A prophet in exile rants against injustice. I'm not gonna lie - I'm jealous of Eddie Huang. I'm not jealous he has a prime time TV show inspired by his life. I'm not jealous of his award-winning  restaurant. I'm not jealous of his popularity, or that he's written a book, or his sharp sense of fashion. I'm jealous of his courage with words. Because Eddie Huang is a prophet. A prophet speaks truth without compromise. Isaiah was commanded to speak to a persistently unfeeling people. A prophet is not afraid to call out the establishment on issues of social injustice. Amos proclaimed judgment on "those who trample the heads of the poor" . A prophet employs symbolism to make his point. Ezekiel cut his beard off with a sword and set it on fire as a witness against Israel. A prophet is offensive and persecuted for his views. John the Baptist got his head chopped off for calling Herod ou...