Author: @matthew

On Music

I really like music. I have 7,248 songs in my iTunes library. I listen to music while driving, doing chores, walking to class, etc. However, I don’t think I absolutely love “popular music.” There are some people who are just constantly moved by popular music—people who listen to lots of different artists and know a lot about music.

Divide And Conquer

I’ve noticed this interesting phenomenon here at seminary. Very few people go to church together. Everyone seems to split up into smaller groups and attend niche churches. I think a big reason for this is the pressure we have to nail down our internship early.

Tick Tock

So, I’m having an issue with this blogging thing. I find myself inspired to blog somewhere between 12–6 pm PT. By the time I get it posted, it’s more like 5 pm PT which makes it 7 pm back home in Texas, 8 on the East Coast and 1 am or later in Europe. I’m […]

Soccer Moms

My mom was never a soccer mom—both literally and figuratively. She did drive a mini van for much of my childhood. Neither my sister nor I played soccer. I do remember the first time I played soccer in elementary school PE. I was talk and lanky for most of my childhood, so the PE coach […]

Weasley

Quick post to share a photo from Halloween. I reprised my second best received (I couldn’t find my Tigger suit) costume ever. I’m not sure where I was looking in the picture. Call me Ronald. P.S. If you didn’t read and comment on my blog post yesterday, do it. Right here.

Deconstructing

So during orientation in September, the most popular word we heard from the various people talking was “deconstruction.” I was deconstructing well before I got here in some aspects of my personal theology/ecclesiology/soteriology and several other -ologies. Is basically consists of lots of questions. Most of which I don’t have answers for yet. Lots of […]

Golden

I live in California. Finally. I do have to remind myself a little bit every day. It’s not hard. I walk outside and see foothills in the distance. Sometimes they’re a little hard to see because of the smog, but they’re there. The breeze is cool. It’s in the 60s at night and in the morning.
I sort of feel like I’m on vacation. I sort of am…

The Quest: Deus Ex Machina, an Epilogue

Deus ex machina is a literary device that introduces God or the gods into the plot to solve all of the problems at the story’s conclusion. It’s considered bad practice and the easy way out. It translates from Latin to mean “God in/from the machine.” It’s extreme form of divine intervention in storytelling. If deus ex machina is used in what ever story you are reading/watching/listening to, you feel a bit cheated in the end that your characters didn’t have to earn their happy ending or work to triumph over evil.