The First Testament gives the baseline meaning to the gospel in the promise of God that will not be thwarted by anyone or anything. The New Testament gives us the fulfillment in the form of a person. These testaments are meant to be read in parallel, allowing each testament to illuminate the other.

I think in threes.

God, in eternity, exists in a dynamic mutuality co-equally and co-eternally - three "modes of being" or "persons" and yet one essence. It is a dynamic, fluid movement that does not change in essence.

In the seventh century, John of Damascus described the relationship of the three persons of God as perichoresis. This word literally means "the circle dance.

The only way to engage god is to meet one of the three in time. We meet the Father as Creator, the Son as Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit as the dispenser of God's grace.

Have you ever noticed that just before something big happens in life, there is a crisis of some sort?

Areté is a word that means excellence in character and life. It is the accumulation of virtue in one's life.

. . .after the shadows comes light.

The problem with modernism is that we actually believe, naively and arrogantly, that we can in some way hold any concept and grasp it — and if we cannot, they it is absurd and impossible and therefore nonexistent.

I want us to enter into the laughter of the God that is before, during and after the experience of being human, to swim in grace, to revel in messiness, to find joy in the suffering and love in the chaos.