External Processor

Some things are hard to understand even after they've been explained to you multiple times. Some things are hard to explain, even if you've experienced them. Postpartum depression is both. I'm taking the opportunity of Mother's Day to reflect on the experience of my wife, who bravely cared for Turner in the face of postpartum depression. My first aim is to honor Renee for her service and sacrifice as she has been a wonderful mother to Turner. Secondly, I want to call the Church of Jesus Christ to be more aware and responsive to the needs of mothers. To start, let's get some definitions. "Postpartum depression is a mood disorder that can affect women after childbirth. Mothers with postpartum depression experience feelings of extreme sadness, anxiety, and exhaustion that may make it difficult for them to complete daily care activities for themselves or for others." -- from National Institute of Mental Health. There is also postpartum psychosis which is eve...

It's September 2017 and in recent days there has been a fuss about athletes who take a knee during the national anthem. This act is clearly within any person's right to freedom of speech as set forth by the constitution and upheld by the Supreme Court. As I understand it, the general theme of this action is to protest against racial injustice, essentially saying that as a society we are not living up to the ideals that the flag represents. There are two particular aspects which I would like to address regarding this. First of all, many people seem to be outraged and seem to be personally offended when athletes take a knee during the national anthem. I think this is quite revealing about what a person values. There are many great sins in our society that we should have a righteous anger about. And we should have a righteous humility about these sins, knowing that even if we don't commit these particular sins, it is only by the grace of God that we don't. Allow me to ment...

On Wednesday, June 7, 2017 Russell Vought stood before the Senate in a confirmation hearing. Bernie Sanders questioned Vought on a statement Vought made regarding a theological debate taking place at Wheaton college in 2016. The issue was whether or not Muslims and Christians worship the same God. Vought said that they do not worship the same God. His statement was “Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology. They do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ his Son, and they stand condemned.” This statement is a clear teaching of the Bible: Jesus is the only way of salvation. Mostly, I see this as an internal theological debate. On top of that, all he is saying is that his religion is the only true religion, which is what most all religions claim: that they have the one true path to God. Bernie Sanders decided to turn this situation on its head and claim that Vought was discriminating against other religions and was therefore not fit for government office. But in doing...

There is an article on Christianity Today entitled " Why We Send Our Kids to the Poorest Public School. " I think about the main concept of this article all the time. I usually go back and read the article again every six months or so. You should really read it for yourself to understand the rest of my discussion here, but I'll try to summarize. Basically, a Christian mother ends up in a new city and her kids are attending a school that is very different from their previous one. The school is poor and so are the families of the students. Many families are refugees and many students are learning English as a second language. Of course the traditional wisdom of Americanism says that you should get your kids out of there by moving to a different school district or sending them to a private school. However, this mother explains that her Christian faith told her to stay in that school district. She admits that she wrestled with this and struggled to trust God. And while this a...

I recently listened to the audiobook Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting.  I felt like I wanted a more concrete understanding of the book, so I checked it out of the library practically re-read every page as I created a 17 page outline/summary of the book. This is just my summary of the author's message; I haven't included any of my personal thoughts or opinions. Due to the size of the document, I have decided to publish it at this link rather than post the whole thing in WordPress. Thanks for checking it out. I hope it helps someone.

This blog post is a reaction piece to a thought-provoking Vox article, “I'm a black ex-cop, and this is the real truth about race and policing.”  You should follow the link below to read it and then come back to this blog post. http://www.vox.com/2015/5/28/8661977/race-police-officer To summarize, the author claims that 15% of cops are good, 15% are bad, and 70% could go either way depending on the circumstances.  His basic point is that the culture of policing needs to change and that police officers and police departments need to be held accountable.  I agree, and I want to use this blog post to expand upon the concept and add my perspective to it. I am approaching this topic from my religion of Christianity, specifically evangelical Christianity. Even if you are not a Christian, take a minute to consider the Christian philosophy of humans. First, God created all humans as good people. In fact, he made them like him, in His image.  The second Christian tenant is that humans (star...

Does the world really need another blog post discussing which lives matter? Probably not. But I want to get my thoughts on paper and be able articulate my position to anyone who asks me. This is being written in July 2016, and if you haven't checked your history book recently, a lot is happening right now. Consider the following statements that you may have heard recently: #BlackLivesMatter #UnbornLivesMatter #BlueLivesMatter #AllLivesMatter The problem I have with "All Lives Matter" is that it is most often used as a response to the phrase "Black Lives Matter." In addition, it is a response that is used to dismiss both the statement "Black Lives Matter" and the underlying injustices of our society that make it necessary to say that black lives matter. Remember, "Black Lives Matter" has an implied "too" at the end . We already know that all lives matter. Our society is already set up so that white lives matter. We want black lives t...