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Alternative Thinking Do you ever stop and think about some of the crazy phrases that are still found in the American lexicon. Today I was discussing the phrase, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” with some people. How did this phrase originate? Then, how did it catch on with people? I assume babies were being bathed in washbasins, and the dirty water would somehow be thrown out the window. Then, did people occasionally forget that there was a baby in there? And did this occur so many times that people eventually coined and used this phrase regularly? Another weird phrase that comes to mind is, “There is more than one way to skin a cat.” Is there? Is there more than one way to skin a cat? Why are there any ways to skin a cat, and who was the first to decide that there was a plural amount of ways? I think the idea behind the phrase is that there are things in life that don’t have just one answer or one way. Sometimes in life, there can be alternative wa...

Psalm 51:4 captures the prayer of David once he has seen his sin, regarding his coveting and taking of Bathsheba, Uriah the Hittite's wife, followed by his sinful leadership actions that led to the death of Uriah in battle. (For Nathan's reveal of David's sin, read 2 Samuel 12).  David thus prays to God: "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment." David sees his sin as against God, thereby vindicating God in his righteous, justified, and blameless judgment. God is holy, good, just, and loving. The Law, and our consciences, testify against us that we simply are not holy, good, just, and loving. Certainly not all the time. Our sin is ultimately against God in His goodness, and it is degrading to our humanity.  Imagine the creation of the universe. Genesis 1 tells us that God created the universe and humankind, and it was very good...

This past year I began to do the posters and advertisements for our Men's ministry. We put these posters in bathrooms and around the church to advertise upcoming programming that we are offering. In the beginning of this process, I failed epically in the realm of design. I plastered logos, pictures, and backgrounds together on one page and the result looked like someone opened up 6 different puzzle boxes and started to build one puzzle out of all the various pieces. It was a mess and an eyesore. As a result, I learned about minimalism in design. Minimalism can be defined like this: "In its most stripped-down definition, minimalism is about designers expressing only the most essential and necessary elements of a product or subject by getting rid of any excessive and, therefore, unnecessary components and features." - Marc Schenker The goal of minimalism in design is to shrink something down to it's "true form." This occurs by removing anything that ...