BitterSweetLife Blog Posts

• Flash Review: Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson
  on Dec 18, 2013
  I use Grammarly's plagiarism checker because sometimes there's reason my dialog sounds eerily like a Dos Equis commercial. I've been reading a lot of N.D. Wilson lately, which is to say, as of five minutes ago, I've read everything he's written: The...
• New Post on the New Blog
  on Apr 18, 2013
  If my site stats aren't lying, looks like some of you keep a watchful eye on this blog. Or maybe you're sound asleep, I wouldn't blame you. Anyway, I just wrote my first legitimate blog post in a few years and it's on my new blog, Return of the Brick...
• I Am Blogging Again
  on Jun 7, 2011 in Comebacks Writing
  Last weekend at the Mumford & Sons concert, my friend Erik said, "It would be kind of cool if Arcade Fire walked out on the stage with them."And while we're on the subject of monstrous understatements, here's another one.Been awhile since I've bl...
• Crossroads Church KC Summer 2010 Update
  on Oct 7, 2010 in Kansas City Church_Planting Church
  If you didn't know, my family has been working to start a new church in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, an adventure that has been exciting, exhausting, and very rewarding–pretty much everything we signed up for. Here's our latest update.::Lindsay...
• Good Chaos
  on Sep 14, 2010 in Chaos Jesus_Christ
  With three boys aged four, two, and 10 months, our home is your basic wildlife sanctuary. The same goes for Crossroads Church, about a year old, and our informal services in the Arts Incubator (started November 2009).Last Sunday, Kansas City was dren...
• 2010 NCAA Tournament Bracket
  on Mar 8, 2010 in NCAA_Bracket NCAA_Tournament
  With Selection Sunday a week away, here's a mock 2010 NCAA bracket from the guys at Rush the Court to whet your appetites. 2010 is shaping up to be a great year for the Big 12, with 7 teams making the cut, KU locking up a #1 seed--likely the overall...
• Deep Church Review (Jim Belcher)
  on Feb 26, 2010 in Deep Church JIm Belcher Emerging_Church
  As a theological and cultural trend (in a fairly small circle, anyway), emerging church peaked a couple years ago. At least it did for me. I attended a conference on emerging church. I took a class on emerging church. I wrote papers and articles on e...
• My Top Albums of 2009
  on Jan 12, 2010 in Music
  Someday I'll actually complete a Top 10 albums list in the year it refers to, and all of you will be shocked and disoriented. But until that day, I'll continue to write these posts in January. I enjoy most genres, with a couple exceptions, but that s...
• Merry Christmas! The Long View & C.S. Lewis
  on Dec 24, 2009 in Jesus_Christ Christmas
  In lieu of a December update on Crossroads Church Kansas City, we’re praying that all our friends will enjoy the haunting beauty, stark reality, and startling joy of Christmas.C.S. Lewis called the life of Jesus, “true myth,” meaning that the b...
• 3 Rhythms for a Better Life
  on Dec 21, 2009 in Health
  Today is a good day for this blog. A good day for this blog to be alive. A good day for this blog to be in existence, even though it is still hosted on blogspot.com and is therefore limited in its upward mobility.Today is the day I sit down and write...
• 2010 NCAA Bracket Picks
  on Nov 30, 2009 in NCAA_Bracket NCAA_Tournament NCAA_Basketball
  KU is 10 deep and wins early-season games by 40 while making it look effortless. And as if you needed more proof that the best part of the year has arrived, Bracketology 101 is offering early bracket predictions for the 2010 NCAA tournament. A few hi...
• Crossroads Church KC: Pitch Ad
  on Oct 22, 2009 in Kansas_City Church_Planting Church
• This Just In: Derek Tidball's Ministry by the Book
  on Sep 28, 2009 in derek_Tidball Theology Leadership Books
  Time to give a nod to another book that, from where I'm sitting, looks can't-miss.Ever since reading a blurb about a new title by Derek Tidball, I was interested in cracking this book and exploring his premise. From the intro of the disarmingly title...
• Sooner or Later (Off-the-Cuff Poetry)
  on Sep 9, 2009 in Fatigue Poetry
  Life slows downWhen your eyelids weigh 40 pounds,And you don’t say the profound things,The witty things,That are on the tip of your tongue,Because all your concentration goesInto keeping your eyelidsFrom crashing into your cheekbonesAnd leaving tho...
• A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson (Review)
  on Aug 28, 2009 in Book_Reviews Eugene_Peterson
  The full title of Eugene Peterson’s classic on spiritual formation is a small book review in itself, and sheds some light on his thesis—namely that to doggedly follow Jesus is to defy the conventions of our society. Check out the complete tagline...
• Despite his innocent appearance, his enemies soon learned to fear White Beard the pirate
  on Jul 14, 2009 in Aidan Photos
  ...
• Jars of Clay: Long Fall Back to Earth & CoffeeGeek
  on Jul 10, 2009 in Music Jars_of_Clay Coffee
  The internet has a strange reciprocity all its own.Every month or two I cave in and binge on my favorite coffee website, CoffeeGeek. As I related on this blog a couple years ago, I used to think I was well-versed in all things coffee until I stumbled...
• To A Life More Examined
  on Jun 11, 2009 in Quotes Telford_Work Church_Planting
  Over the last several years, I developed a habit of extracting a few favorite quotes from every (quotable) book I read. Some books don't contain a single quotable line...and some of those make best seller lists.I sorted the quotes topically and colle...
• The Night Watchman by Mark Mynheir (Review)
  on May 27, 2009 in Mark_Mynheir Book_Reviews
  While I don't hand out book accolades right and left, I also don't like to judge a book too quickly. I typically give a novel 50 pages to win me over or lose me forever. It really shouldn't take an author 50 pages to hit his stride, but some books do...
• Evidence for Jesus' Kingdom: The Quizzical Life
  on May 21, 2009 in Heaven Kingdom_of_God
  Every once in awhile I meet someone who goes through life with a look of mild perplexity on his face--not fear, not discomfort--but a head-cocked attitude of incredulity, as if his whole life he'd been watching a film that did not quite render accura...