Good Eats and Thoughts of a Contemplative Feeler

Last night I had the opportunity to watch Moana , a movie I was hoping to eventually watch because I love most things Disney (thanks to my mother for that). In all honesty, I absolutely loved it and all of its cheesy goodness. Simply, it was a movie about discovering one's identity and whether identity is to be shaped by cultural expectations or to be shaped by who one believes they are. My favorite part of the movie happens towards the end of a particular scene between Moana and the main antagonist, Te Ka. **WARNING--SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE AND PLAN ON WATCHING IT, PLEASE SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH** In this scene, after Moana realizes something special about Te Ka, she steps down to the shore and asks the sea to allow Te Ka to come to her. The sea splits and clears a path, which then music cues and Te Ka and Moana proceed to move towards each other. During the rest of this scene, Moana is singing the following words: I have crossed the horizon to find

What view of God did you have while growing up and going through adolescence? Did you have the image of a loving Father that wanted to be with you, despite how you identified yourself and how badly you messed up? Or did you have the image of this pious being who sat at the judgment seat...and you had to tell this mighty deity why you should go to heaven? Growing up, these two images collided in my mind and caused me much confusion. People would tell me that God loved me, but whenever I thought about why I should be let into heaven, I never came up with an answer that seemed good enough. Once entering into college, I became disillusioned with this wrathful and vengeful God and found solace and peace in a God who loves and cares for me despite my failures and struggles. Since beginning seminary almost three years ago, I've had to wrestle again with such topics as the wrath of God and the theodicy of God...trying to put the pieces together in how these things fit with salvation, the

After twenty six years of life, I've decided that each year of life is always formative in some way.  Sometimes drastic things happen within a year which force me to confront who I am and question what God is doing, and some years feel like seasons of prosperity where the abundance of God's presence, provision, and love is evident.  2015 was definitely the former description.  Here's my 2015 in a nutshell: January: Co-led my first group of students up to Hume Lake for United Winter Camp, where one of the buses we had taken up the mountain left without us on departure day February-July: I was tasked to kickstart a new missions initiative for Student Ministry; also one of my most significant friendships went through a very rough patch July: I led my first missions trip to San Francisco, partnering with City Impact, where I learned a lot about myself as a ministry leader and the importance of practicing patience August: Began my third year of seminary...and also accep