Today (November 8th) is my birthday. And today, an article from Christian Century found me. It is an article about Heaven, and the need for heaven to be real. I’ll link it here. And Quote the last two paragraphs: “Sometimes I wonder if the church’s witness is failing because we don’t know how to translate […]
To go from early 2000s beach country to an absolute legend with Kitty Wells’ legendary Country Hit Parade is, at first, a little jarring. The classic sounds of steel and twang are much more present in her iconic songs. Yet, the reality is, Chesney is in the same lineage, and you can see it in […]
For some reason, I didn’t expect Kenny Chesney to be on this list. I don’t know why. I enjoy his music, I think he has his finger on the pulse of a certain kind of country fan. He’s not bro country, nor is he beach country. He feels a lot like John Denver’s Windsong album. […]
Rolling Stone released their The 100 Greatest Country Albums of All Time list a few days ago. And it inspired me. I’m going to write a reflection on each album. My goal is one reflection a week for the next 100 or so weeks (almost two years). I can guarantee you I will miss a […]
Hey Y’all,Updates to the website are slowly happening. I’ve added some upcoming classes, and of course my podcast (Rusty Water Towers). I also have a couple series planned for the website. Look for a post on Monday to explain the first!
I’ve decided to take on a self-imposed writing challenge. My goal is to write approximately 500 words a day, every day from now until Easter (on April 17th). This is writing 500 words for fifty days straight (inclusive of Easter and today (Transfiguration Sunday). I’m using my blog as a space for accountability and updates […]
The story of the woman at the well from John Chapter 4 is a story I used to find annoying. I think, because it was an overdone story about Jesus being Jesus. It gets overused as a salvation story for a way of life that is no longer feels like an issue. Women, in general, […]
One thing rural communities rely on is repetition. Repetition creates consistency, memory, and tradition. This repetition matters, whether it is football of Fridays in the fall, the festival on the first weekend of May, or knowing who to call when someone in the community dies to get the prayer and meal train going. I’ve learned […]
There are two main scriptures for today. Click here for Mark & Click here for John Both scriptures have a Jesus who will not be controlled. Mark has a Resurrection with no appearance and the women run away. (The gospel ends here, the rest is addendum to make it like the other gospels). In John […]
Here is a link to the lectionary reading for today, John 13:21-32 Today’s scripture bothered me. I didn’t want to focus too much on Satan, betrayal and over explaining this. However, since, I’m not alone in my study of scripture, I turn again to commentators. Francis Moloney suggests that the thing we should look toward […]
Jonathan LeMaster-Smith 