Welcome Back & Prayer for Police Officers

It has been a long time since my last post. Too long. Nearly three years to the day. I’ve decided to begin writing again due to my current situation. As the new Director and CEO for Transforming Jail Ministries (Hamilton County, Ohio), I feel it is best that I share my experiences and what I learn as I take this journey.

In the midst of this transitionary period, I have decided to journal privately each day, tracking the greatest moments. My hope is to have a “first 100 days” journal that could potentially be useful for others who are becoming executives for the first time. 

Additionally, this new position has brought about a number of highs and lows. In my first month, I’ve delivered several death notices, gave an invocation and benediction for a sheriff’s deputy academy graduation, and learned that the relationship between faith and government is simpler than I had thought. 

We Are All Slaves, Pt. III

Support and opposition to Citizens United by political id.

Image is not my own.

How We Exacerbate Our Problems

Today’s post reaches both the series climax and midpoint. With that said, it also necessitates a preface. This post is dangerous for my political career because what I am about to state runs contrary to the conventional wisdom of my party. Without further ado, my preface and defense.

I am deeply committed to the orthodox Christian faith, particularly from a Reformed/Calvinist perspective. Labels may not always be desirable, but they are often helpful. At times I have encountered dissonance between my political philosophy/ideology and my faith. This is one of those moments. 

Wendell Berry: 2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities at the Kennedy Center

“We should give ourselves to things that are true, just, and beautiful. A large machine and a large, toxic, eroded cornfield, subjectively speaking, is not an affectionate sign.”

Wendell Berry, a man keenly set on preserving and protecting creation, has upset many and influenced many more. He is a humble man. A farmer from Port Royal, Kentucky the Kentucky River just south of it’s opening into the Ohio.

Berry has written much, said much, and done much. He is a person who does not fold on his words, but rather, has persisted in his effort towards recovering his plot of land in the rolling hills of Kentucky. That’s not to say Berry hasn’t made mistakes along the way. He admits as much. But he is a simple, honest, and a trustworthy man who has been genuine and true in his pursuits.

We Are All Slaves, Pt. II

Addicted to Stuff and Debt

Do a quick Google search (“average American debt”) and you will see that 160 million Americans have credit cards, the average credit card holder has three, and the average household credit card debt amounts to $15k. What happens when you total this number? The total U.S. consumer debt is around $11.4 trillion. 

As a nation, we are addicted to debt. There are countless stories of Americans committing suicide because they neither understand how they got into such dire straits, nor do they know how to escape. 

Turn on your television and you will see ad-after-ad seducing viewers to purchase more stuff. Annually, new lawsuits surface where consumers have purchased products claiming to do “x” and the products fail to follow through. Marketers suggest if we purchase their products we will look better, feel better, live better, and be successful. 

We Are All Slaves

When I was wee tot, I lived in poverty. Around age six or seven, my mom met her second husband and waved goodbye to the outhouse and stovetop baths.

Before I left poverty, my mom and dad had racked up debt (mostly because of my dad) and I spent much of my time with my grandmother after their divorce. She was a humble lady content with the little she did and did not have. 

Several of my family members ordered a lot of “stuff” from Fingerhut, JC Penny, and Sears catalogs. They amassed unnecessary debt and accumulated piles of junk. I wanted the junk too.

I thank my step-dad who gave me my first wise words of financial advice: most of the people with nice homes, new cars, and lots of stuff aren’t rich, they are in debt.

I didn’t get it. 

Revelation 21

Our sinless Savior came to die;

So that we might be sanctified.

He washed us clean from all our sin,

He broke the curse, He conquered death.

It Is Not Death to Die

Three months ago my dad passed away. There were a number of us who had shared the Gospel with him throughout his life with increased passion in his last days. On his deathbed, my dad professed faith in Christ, praise be to God. I certainly miss him a lot, there’s not a day that passes that I don’t think of him. His favorite singer-songwriter, John Prine, has been playing nearly every day since my dad was in the ICU for the first time.

Just days before he went into septic shock, ultimately resulting in cardiac arrest, my dad went from being terrified of the unknown to embracing it. Something in his heart changed. He no longer feared the grave and I am convinced it is because he knew what it would bring.