Reflections on what’s happening in the world — in the news, the church, the neighborhood — each one weighed against the vision of shalom
Rocks of the Day
Empire at the Water’s Edge
On Hell: Recovering the Story
A personal, biblical, historical, and theological examination of eternal conscious torment—and whether it faithfully reflects the character of God revealed in Jesus.
Keep readingBig Chill Devo 2026
A devotional for our time together Each step is intentionally short. Don’t rush it, but don’t overthink it either. And if you have children, the pictures here may help them follow along. Introduction As many of you know, I’ve been attending seminary for the last two years. Alongside those studies, I’ve been exploring the idea…
Keep reading
Empire at the Water’s Edge
How a Chilean mining conglomerate, a presidential family connection, and a procedural shortcut overrode 650,000 public comments to open the Boundary Waters to a copper mine.
Keep reading
AI – Two Futures
The AI data-center boom isn’t really a question about technology — it’s a question about whether we build around extraction or stewardship.
Keep readingThe Innkeeper Who Watched
The Innkeeper Who Watched — A parable about Mark Zuckerberg and Meta, and the cost of being surveilled by the very platform pretending to serve you.
Keep reading
The Way God Wouldn’t Want It
It’s easy to assume God is on our side. It’s harder to ask whether we’re on His. This reflection explores how fear, power, and certainty can distort our picture of God—and why Jesus remains the clearest revelation of what God truly desires.
Keep reading
Hierarchy That Survived – Complementarianism
Complementarianism presents itself as ancient Christianity. History tells a more complicated story. This reflection follows its surprising origins and asks whether the gospel ultimately points toward hierarchy—or toward the mutuality revealed in Jesus.
Keep reading
On Divorce
Divorce — The Ideal and the Real: What’s Jesus’ View? Can We Discern Jesus’ View? This is both a social and a spiritual issue. Divorce in the U.S. brings real economic, emotional, and relational consequences, with the greatest impact often falling on women and children. Women’s household income typically drops 20–40%, and about 25% of…
Keep readingThe Quota
Bands of masked, heavily armed men roam the streets. They are hunting. Dangerous people. At first, they are told exactly what they are hunting for: criminal immigrants. They are promised abundance. Easy work. A target-rich environment. Three thousand hunters are deployed. They are organized into five hundred teams of six. Each team is given a…
Keep readingLies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics What’s a lie—and can we see it coming? Over the past few years, I’ve changed how I consume information—news, politics, even everyday claims. I no longer assume that authority equals accuracy. Instead, I do two things: It takes more time. But it replaces certainty with clarity. That framework is why…
Keep readingExtraordinary Threats
Extraordinary Measures This piece did not begin as an abstract inquiry. It began with a convergence of events—and a surge of emotion that would not settle. It all started when ICE operations expanded across Minnesota, producing fear among non-citizens. Anger when a fellow SEM student from Africa was detained and informed he was being deported.…
Keep readingKilling Good
Are we, as a society, now literally killing good? On January 7, 2026, Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and U.S. citizen, was fatally shot during a federal immigration enforcement operation in south Minneapolis. She was inside her SUV on a residential street when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents approached her vehicle. An…
Keep readingMasculinity Reclaimed—or Rebranded Empire?
In recent years, a growing chorus of public voices has urged men to “step up,” reclaim leadership, and take charge of their families—and society itself. The movement goes by different names and arises from different places, but its message is consistent: Society is in decline because men have been weakened. Restoration requires men to reclaim…
Keep readingThe Fraud of the Fraud
A Brief Word Before You Read This reflection occupies a difficult space. It names real wrongdoing—and also how that wrongdoing can be stretched, repurposed, and narrated in ways that distort rather than clarify, often causing additional harm. It is not written to excuse failure, defend institutions, or minimize misconduct. It is written to protect proportion.…
Keep readingLibertas or is it Autonomy?
And the distinction between “freedom through autonomy” versus “freedom in Jesus”. In a recent seminary discussion, a few classmates described what might be called a Libertarian Lifestyle Ideal: minimal reliance on the state, no taxes, limited technology, an off-grid vision of self-sufficiency. I was genuinely grateful for their sincerity and their desire for simplicity and…
Keep readingWhat’s Enough?
By Peter Brandt | SeePhas The Socioeconomics of Enough A Reflection on Economics, History, Scripture and a Conversation with a Young Buck Every one of us eventually faces the question: How much do I need? Do I have enough? Not enough in the shallow, consumer sense — but enough in the sense of our flourishing.…
Keep readingA Thanksgiving Parable
🌾 The Parable of Old Soil and New Earth There were once two neighboring fields, each weathered by time. One field, called Old Soil, had been planted for countless generations. Its people knew every bend of the river, every rhythm of the seasons, every voice of the forest. Their stories were as old as the…
Keep readingThe Rise of Therapeutic Christianity
Sometimes my mind drifts into the uncomfortable places—the ones most people avoid because they raise questions that disrupt the mood and challenge the assumptions in the room. I used to think this made me overly critical or pessimistic. But lately I’ve been wondering: What if these thoughts aren’t flaws? What if they’re invitations? Invitations to…
Keep readingWho am I?
October 5, 2025 This question has grown more important to me in recent years. John Calvin (1509–1564) was a highly influential French theologian, pastor, and reformer during the Protestant Reformation. For much of my life, I’ve wrestled with the Calvinist idea of Total Depravity—the claim that we are born corrupt and incapable of good on our own. It…
Keep readingWho is God?
Using an Exercise from the book: Escaping the Matrix If I had done the Escaping the Matrix exercise of picturing God two years ago, my mind would have formed an image — because I’m a visual person. And that image would have looked something like this: A stern, sometimes angry old man. Scary, hard to…
Keep readingSomething went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Follow to see the rocks
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
