Sticky
By:
On:
In: Pastor's Blog

By the time you read this, I should be driving somewhere in western Kansas, probably wondering why I didn’t fly to Colorado Springs. Every year about hour six of the drive, that question occurs to me. But by the time I get farther west, I remember why I drive. The two-day trip has become something of a labyrinth for me: a long, slow way of unwinding, laying down some of the burdens I’ve been carrying, and deciding which ones God might actually be asking me to pick back up. My destination is a little 500-square-foot, off-the-grid cabin in the Wet mountains of Colorado that I’mRead More →

Sticky
By:
On:
In: Pastor's Blog

I think it was about three years ago that large language models like ChatGPT entered the mainstream conversation. Mostly for fun, I asked one AI model to write a church blog about Lent. What came back was…fine. At its best, it was a middle-school one-page paper on Lent. It knew what Lent was. It could string together some inspiring thoughts. It sounded vaguely churchy. But it didn’t really say anything about what Lent meant for us. I remember thinking, “Well, this is interesting, but I’m not too worried about it taking my job.” A lot has changed in three years. Today, I use AI nearlyRead More →

Sticky
By:
On:
In: Pastor's Blog

A new school year brings a new season. For some that means a new classroom, a new teacher, or a new school. For others, it may mean returning to a familiar place, continuing a journey already underway…or it may just mark the beginning of earlier mornings and the start of pumpkin spice season. Whatever it brings for you, each of us arrive carrying something different. Some of us carry new bookbags filled with tech and supplies. Some carry well-loved bags that have been part of many school years. Teachers and staff, no doubt carry their classroom supplies and their responsibilities. Parents and caregivers carry schedules,Read More →

Sticky
By:
On:
In: Pastor's Blog

Recently, while providing pastoral care to someone facing an especially difficult season, the person said something I have heard in different forms many times throughout my ministry: “I don’t know how people get through something like this without the Lord, without faith, and without a church family.” I understand the question. When life becomes heavy, like when we are grieving, frightened, exhausted, or facing circumstances we cannot change, we naturally wonder how anyone manages without something larger than themselves to hold onto. But if the question is how we make it through life’s hardest challenges entirely alone, I am not sure that we do. ItRead More →