Yesterday I summited Mt Hood for the first time since my fall 5 years ago. It has been something I have wanted to do since my fall. Two weeks ago, on the anniversary of my fall, a group of friends and I attempted the summit but ended up turning around right before the final ascent due to low visibility. I wrote an update on my social media: Well… 5 years ago this weekend I had…
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Spiritual Transformation
We are all on this journey of life. We are all looking for purpose and meaning. In his book, Maximum Faith, George Barna identifies 10 stops along the journey of life toward complete spiritual transformation. One of the things that really drew me to these stops was the fact that Barna explicitly differentiated between “stops” and “steps.” These stops identified are not prescriptive. This is not a formula that one must follow to achieve enlightenment or ultimate…
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Sin, Love, Compassion, Forgiveness, Satisfaction, and Substitution
In the wake of Easter and Good Friday, and in the continued reality of the global pandemic we find ourselves in, I have continued to think much on the death of Christ. In the last two decades there has been a concerted effort to downplay the cross and instead trade it for an emphasis on the teaching and life of Jesus – at least in what I have read, observed, and experienced in popular Christian…
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Life After Falling
On May 26, 2018, I had an accident that would forever change my life. I attempted to ski from the summit of Mt. Hood (in Oregon) and ended up falling about 450 feet to what should have been my imminent death. A 10-hour rescue, involving about thirty individuals from five different organizations, and a week-long hospital stay later, my life trajectory had taken a serious turn. I was 35 years old. A year prior I…
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