How the actions of this poor widow challenges a slightly irreverant, Linux-using, business school educated Christian. And his money.
Some towns may call them “Food Banks” — charities that give away groceries to those in need. But in my fair city, where the SF Food Bank is a government-funded entity, us little guys are known as “Food Pantries”.
My food pantry is known as the Excelsior Community Food Pantry or ECFP for short. When I [...]
Posted on October 21st, 2009 by Ryan
Filed under: Christian tradition, charitable, chasing happiness, church, diary worthy | No Comments »
This Sunday, I saw something quite surprising at church. In the middle of church service during communion, a bunch of the grade-school children from Sunday school bounded into the sanctuary. They cheerfully danced up to the communion table. The church elder offered them the bread. The children grabbed a piece, drenched it grape juice, and [...]
Posted on May 4th, 2009 by Ryan
Filed under: Christian tradition, chasing happiness, church, diary worthy | 1 Comment »
Over the years it seems like Christmas has had a lot of critics. I must admit that I have my complaints. Many of us do. What’s yours? Complete this sentence:
Christmas is too…
Divisive and Religious
Secular
Commercial and Materialistic
Stressful
Much Trouble
Cheery
Sad
Much time with family
Much time away from family
Traditional
Anything else to add to the list? I’m probably missing a [...]
Posted on December 26th, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: Christian tradition, chasing happiness, diary worthy | 1 Comment »
I got a homework assignment from church today. I need to write a personal Statement of Faith.
Typically, homework assignments from churches tend to be things like “do something nice” or “forgive someone you’re mad at”. I, in response, would perform some cursory deed like put the toilet seat down for my wife and [...]
Posted on December 1st, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: Christian tradition, church, diary worthy | 4 Comments »
I’ve become desensitized to the all-too-common headlines of Bay Area homicides. When I hear about them, I usually shake my head, think “how unfortunate”, and continue on. Most shootings and killings are gang-related. That fact seems to put comfortable mental distance between me and these violent crimes.
But Friday’s triple homicide was really [...]
Posted on November 15th, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: Christian tradition, church | No Comments »
The Wall Street Journal published a fascinating article last week, titled “The Mystery Worshipper“. Of course, you’ll need to flip past the doom-and-gloom headlines of the stock market free fall and the collapse Iceland’s financial system (the Icelandic krona ceased trading on the global currency market). This WSJ article takes us away from this global [...]
Posted on October 15th, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: Christian tradition, church, economic theory, societal concerns | 3 Comments »
I’ve taught church Sunday school for years. For the most part, Sunday school teachers are glorified babysitters. Our job is to keep the kids entertained, so their parents can have an hour of peace and quiet during church. Still, I feel obligated to teach them a little bit about God or morals or something Christian-like [...]
Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: Christian tradition, church, diary worthy, economic theory, societal concerns | 4 Comments »
When I teach Sunday school, I often encourage the children to pray. I would explain that praying is just talking to God. I tell kids that you can pray to God about anything.
Grown-ups seem to have taken this childhood message to heart, especially Rocky Twyman, a community organizer from Maryland. This community organizer [...]
Posted on August 1st, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: Christian tradition, chasing happiness, relationships (and money), societal concerns | 3 Comments »
I have a very important question. Of all the sins in the world, which is the worst? There are so many delightful ones to choose from. Murder, adultery, thievery — those are the common Biblical ones. But why stick to one flavor? We have corporate sins (sexual harassment, corporate malfeasance), [...]
Posted on July 25th, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: Christian tradition, brazen, chasing happiness, societal concerns | 5 Comments »
Capitalism, for all of its flaws, is very good at efficient resource allocation. Money flows towards promising opportunities. It leaves overpriced and dead-end projects in its wake.
Consider the oft talked about gas prices. Demand for gas guzzling trucks and SUVs have plummeted. American car makers reacted quickly. Ford slashed its [...]
Posted on July 10th, 2008 by Ryan
Filed under: Christian tradition, brazen, charitable, church, economic theory, societal concerns | 2 Comments »