The Keener Way

  I know, its been yet another long gap since I've posted. The thing is, I write stuff as inspiration hits me. Sometimes i get lots of ideas, sometimes they trickle slowly. This time around, I've had an idea for a while, but its been simmering on a backburner until I got the angle I needed this morning.  It started when I received a text with a quote by C.S. Lewis from his essay collection, "God in the Dock", which goes, "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important." This weighed heavily on my mind, as I often feel like I treat Christianity as only moderately important. Indeed, sometimes it feels like the modern church at large is doing this with great unity. As I mulled over this for some weeks, my church started a sermon series in the book of 1 Peter. What particularly stood out was Chapter 1, verses 13-16. "Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-min...

  It has been a hot minute since I've read the book of 1 John. But when the sermon at my church sent me there today, I realized I've been needing it this past week. The book really isn't that long. Five very short chapters. Yet there is so much packed inside! For a brief overview: Chapter 1 -The purpose of this letter is to make your joy complete. -If we walk in the light, we have fellowship with the Lord. -If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive. Chapter 2 -Jesus is our atoning sacrifice. -If we keep the commandments of Jesus, we can be sure we have come to know Him. -If you hate your brother, you still walk in darkness. -Whoever loves his brother remains in the light. -The world, fleshly desires, the pride of life, the lust of our eyes... These things are passing away. Do not love them. -Those who departed from the faith were not in it to begin with, and are antichrists. -We have received an anointing from Christ, which teaches us all things. Chapter 3 -When Chr...

  The scene you are witnessing is a view not dissimilar to what I imagine the Hebrews experienced as they exited the Arabian wilderness and approached the Promised Land. It is, in fact, a view of leaving the Great Sand Dunes National Park and approaching the peaks of the beautiful San Isabel State Forest. I woke up on Tuesday, June 1, 2024, with a very woeful anguish inside, knowing that this was my last day in Colorado. Tomorrow, I would be taking my east-bound roadtrip. Dreaded for being multiple thousand miles, and dreaded for going into later timezones. It would feel significantly longer than coming. Yet that was not today, that was tomorrow. I still had one more day to play hard and adventure fully. And I was going to make the best of it. Assembling a group of four, we first headed to Walmart for a supply of bananas. Why? Don't ask. We simply randomly decided that we needed some bananas, and that's all there was to it. Once our mission was accomplished, we happily munched ...

  The sight you are beholding is the last colors of sunset, lighting up Nipple Mountain, 38 miles northwest of Pueblo, Colorado. It is also not my picture. My phone camera is terrible. Credits go to the hosts that invited me out to Colorado in the first place. At the time of viewing this scene, I assumed this to be Pikes Peak. However, some calculating on Google Earth would later confirm this to be the wrong shape for Pikes Peak, and 14 miles too far south. So how did it come about that I lucked into this breath-taking gorgeous view of our Creator's majesty? It all started when I woke up on Monday, June 10, 2024, on my friends' couch, mildly confused as to what I was doing there. As I started working out the cramps in my neck from being curled up on the couch, I slowly remembered. Massive storm. Flash flooding. Encouraged to sleep on couch instead of trying to get to my campsite. It was early enough that none of my friends were awake yet. I considered driving up to camp and ma...