Theology

Getting Ready to Give Thanks

By Karen Ballon November 23, 2016

No doubt about it, it’s been a tough year. In publishing. In politics. In our nation. In our world. There are so many things to worry about, to be frustrated about, even to fear. And yet…

God is.

Whoever runs the country…God is.

Whatever personal or professional trials you face…God is.

However discouraging circumstances may be…God is.

Whatever is happening…

GOD.

IS.

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, let’s take the time to stop and remember that we are not alone. We are the children of an almighty, all-loving God. And let’s lift our hearts and voices to thank Him for His love, for His Son, for the many blessings He has given us.

To help get you in the thanksgiving mood, I offer this music video from someone for whom I am immeasurably thankful, both for his influence in my life and for the fact that I know I will see him again in eternity—my dad, Fred Sapp.

Lessons from a Crab

By Karen Ballon November 16, 2016

No, the title isn’t talking about a grouchy person. It’s about a real, live crab. One that I encountered one day on the Oregon coast as I walked along the beach. It was early morning, with the rising sun streaming across the vast water, the glory of the sunrise reflected in the wet sand. I’d gotten a little to close to the surf as it came in, and since I hadn’t rolled up my pants legs, I had to …

Category: The Writing Life, TheologyTag: The Writing Life, Theology

How Do You See God?

By Karen Ballon November 9, 2016

I love going to the Oregon coast. love the power and beauty and sense of God’s creative genius that surrounds me when I’m there. Ever since I was little, I’ve looked on the ocean as a friend, even played tag with the water as it came in, daring it to wash over my bare feet, running when it got close, laughing when it caught me. (Yes, I still do this.) Recently, though, while at the coast, I was …

Category: The Writing Life, TheologyTag: Faith, The Writing Life, Theology

The Writer’s Prayer

By Dan Balowon October 4, 2016

Mainly because he isn’t around to defend himself, I am going to take issue today with the great Saint Augustine of Hippo.* Intellectually and spiritually I know he would eat my lunch, so I waited sixteen hundred years after his death to be sure it was safe. Also, since Augustine didn’t speak and write in English, but Latin, I assume his writing lost something in the translation. If he were to come …

Category: The Writing Life, TheologyTag: Prayer, The Writing Life

“Do You Love Me?”

By Karen Ballon September 14, 2016

Have you heard the one about the elderly woman who heard her friends’ husbands over the years tell them how much they loved them? Oh! How she longed for her husband to do the same. To regale her with the depth and breadth of his enduring love. But…nothing. Finally, as they were sitting out on the porch one morning, she turned to him and said as sweetly as she could, “WHY don’t you ever say you …

Category: Personal, TheologyTag: God's love, Theology

This Is Why We Write

By Karen Ballon August 24, 2016

I made a mistake a few days ago: I watched the news. I seldom do that. Yes, I am informed on events. I have notices come to my phone in bite-sized pieces so I can control the onslaught of evil swarming over us. But on that day, I sat there, watching, weeping, wondering when people gave up being…well, human? When they became animals, given over to the darkest drives within with such abandon that …

Category: TheologyTag: Encouragement, Theology

The Accidental Pharisee

By Dan Balowon July 19, 2016

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Anyone who spends even a little time reading the New Testament discovers the only times Jesus got really angry was when he confronted religious people who were so far off the intended track they needed outright and immediate correction or even condemnation. Jesus could judge, after all he was God in the flesh. Those who didn’t know any better were treated with relative kindness, called upon to …

Category: Career, Communication, The Writing Life, TheologyTag: Career, Communication, The Writing Life

A Time for Lament

By Steve Laubeon July 16, 2016

For a while we were able to rattle off the cities or the names of various people and incidents where someone died. Every place from Columbine to Sandy Hook to Ferguson to Fort Hood to Charleston to Orlando to Dallas to Nice. But now the litany has become too long and transformed into one long cry. Not a cry for a rally but literally a cry of lament. What makes it worse are the untold tragedies …

Category: Christian, Personal, TheologyTag: Lament, Theology

Theological Accountability Partners

By Dan Balowon July 12, 2016

Just because an author is a mature Christian, doesn’t mean they are immune from writing something containing shaky theology. In an effort to craft compelling phrases and stories, orthodox theology can sometimes be a casualty of creativity or even carelessness. Most often it is entirely accidental. I referenced this issue in a post over a year ago. A significant function of a traditional Christian …

Category: Career, Christian, Communication, Editing, Theology, Writing CraftTag: Career, Theology

Writing in the Night

By Karen Ballon June 15, 2016

Does it seem to any of you that things the last few months or so have been really hard? That there are more people struggling and hurting? As I’ve gone through my dad’s continued health struggles (2 more hospitalizations in the last 3 ½ weeks), my own health frustrations (bursitis on my knee after starting an exercise program of walking on the treadmill. I mean, seriously? I start exercising and …

Category: The Writing Life, TheologyTag: Discouragement, The Writing Life