The Path to Human Happiness: Fear God and Keep His Commandments
Life can be incredibly fun and meaningful, and it can be incredibly hard and frustrating. Sometimes we feel great, and sometimes we feel deeply discouraged. Sometimes we believe we make a difference, and sometimes we wonder whether we matter at all. In many ways, such conflicting feelings describe the human condition. In this article, I reflect on the interplay of these ideas in the book of Ecclesiastes. On one hand, the Teacher, the...
Church-State Religious Accommodation: Reflections on Groff v. DeJoy
The coming months will bring attention to the biggest cases the Supreme Court is hearing this term, including issues like abortion, Chevron deference, consumer protection, Donald Trump, gerrymandering, guns (bump stock), social media, and more. As we prepare for the holdings on these cases, I thought it would be good to reflect on an important decision from last summer: Groff v. DeJoy. Groff did not receive as much attention as the...
Reflections on Pixar: Monsters, Up, and Brave
The animation studio Pixar produced its first movie, Toy Story (1995), when I was a boy. I liked it well enough but did not love it as much as others did. The first Pixar movie to capture my imagination was unquestionably Monsters, Inc. (2001). I found it incredibly creative and infectiously funny. Through the years and decades, Pixar has gained the reputation of producing stories that are qualitatively superior to other animated...
On the Grief of Animal Death
Grief Grief is no respecter of person or of time. It is not convenient but slaps you across the face at a moment’s notice. It is not unlike the thief in the night. All of life is but a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow (James 4:14). Undoubtedly, each situation is, in its own way, distinct, but the constant is grief. It comes in all shapes and sizes and levels of intensity, whether from the death of a loved one or the death of a pet...
A Meditation on Trees: Beauty, Majesty, Thanksgiving
Scene “Another cold and dreary day,” Tom grumbled, lookeding out of the window. He was unhappy with the world and with life—for no particular reason. He had been locked in his house for the past week. An ice storm had come through, keeping him from leaving home. But today he and his wife, Jane, were going to brave the roads. “We’re leaving the house for a few hours,” Jane told Snowdrop, the family cat, as husband and wife bundled up...
Recent Comments