Over his shoulder, far down below, a modern city hums. People drive from home to work. A KFC bucket slowly spins on a pole jutting up from the sea of densely packed lightly colored buildings.

Hard to imagine this place two thousand years ago. Danny, our Israeli guide, says no more than ten families lived in Nazareth back then. A population of no more than 150. Probably less, he says.

I think about my own small town in Tennessee. Main Street. The Farmer’s Co-op. A bedroom community shared by cows and cars, farms and low-priced starter homes.

A kid can’t get by with anything in town like Nazareth. Someone who knows mom will see…and tell.

The people of a small town have a way of keeping one another small too don’t they? Expectations grounded by familiarity. Hard to imagine the boy next door as anything other than the boy next door. And in a town like Nazareth, isn’t everyone next door?

“Isn’t that Joseph’s boy?” the hometown crowd muttered in the synagogue one morning. Jesus had been invited to speak. The text was chosen in advance, part of the scheduled lectionary. Just so happens the scroll the attendant handed Jesus was Isaiah and the passage prescribed that day was a Messianic prophecy.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,” Jesus bellowed. “He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.”

Neighbors leaned in close, some with bellies growling, as the words of Isaiah explained why the Messiah’s message would be “good” for the poor.

“He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then Jesus rolled up the scroll and handed it back to the attendant. It was time for the visiting rabbi to expound on what he’d read. The eyes of the crowd were fastened on him as he began. “This scripture has just come true – just now – while you were listening.”

Kids Jesus played with as a boy, now all grown up and with kids of their own. Men who worked with Joseph in construction. Mary’s friends, the ones who’d beaten their laundry against rocks and rinsed them in spring water beside her for years. –Everyone was there. Everyone was surprised at how articulate and confident “little Jesus” had grown up to be.

“Isn’t this Joseph’s boy?”

Then Jesus said…

“You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.

“Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.” – Luke 4:23-27

The crowd’s mood shifted suddenly from amazement to madness.

Family friends turned furious. The angry mob leapt from their seats, grabbed Jesus and dragged him up Mount Nazareth.

They aimed to silence the self-proclaimed Messiah once and for all, to boot him into Jezreel Valley below.

Battles were fought in the valley long before. God’s armies defeating God’s rivals on the open plain.

Jezreel. “God sows”. God tends his people here. He protects them from lunatics and liars. He plants his foot firmly in this soil and cuts down his enemies like wheat at the harvest. A good place to get rid of Jesus – the blasphemer, the mock prophet, the hometown boy who lost his mind and claimed to be divine.

They neared the cliff’s edge and for some reason their grips loosened. Were their fingers pried from his biceps by a convincing argument, another quote from Isaiah, his silence or…

Jesus turned toward the crowd, walked through the familiar faces, and on to Capernaum.

“Five gospels record the life of Jesus. Four you will find in books and the one you will find in the land they call Holy. Read the fifth gospel and the world of the four will open to you.” -St. Jerome (347-420 A.D.)

After ping-ponging across America for weeks with too-few and too-short breaks, the last thing I wanted to do was pack a suitcase, board another plane, and sleep in another hotel bed far from my own. But Becky needed this. I needed it more than I realized when we kissed the kids bye and backed out of the driveway.

I needed this trip – not to reconnect with my wife but to thicken the connection stretched thin across long distance phone calls from dressing rooms all over the place. To talk uninterrupted, sit in easy silence with the morning coffee, to hold hands exploring new streets and learning a new world together.

But ours wasn’t the only connection that deepened.

My understanding of Jesus began stretching on the plane ride from Newark to Tel-Aviv. Men with long curls dangling at their cheeks wore black suits and black hats. A man two rows up, his head covered by a yarmulke, rocked back and forth hunched over a small book and murmuring to himself. Flight attendants rolled up the aisles distributing kosher cuisine while the couple behind me conversed in Hebrew.

The Catholic saint Jerome called Israel the fifth gospel. In the faces of its people we glimpse his features. In its streets we hear his language. We walk through the maps we’ve carried around for years in the back of our bibles. We see ancient customs still lived out and previously innocuous words and phrases from scripture become significant.

“We’re on a plane going to Israel,” I explained to Becky. Just in case she’d forgotten how amazed I was since the last time I told her this about ten minutes before.

Her eyes widened as she nodded slowly and smiled. “I know.”

“Where Jesus lived,” I said.

“I know.”

An inflight movie and a few hours of sleep later we landed in Tel-Aviv. We held hands and walked to the beach as the sun slowly dove into the Mediterranean. Our first night in Israel.

Depression didn’t win. It’s a story I’ve told here before, but last night, knees shaking in front of our church’s youth group, I told it a bit differently.

For instance, I explained the difference between sadness and depression first. Sadness is something a mentally healthy person should feel…when parents are fighting, money is tight, a grandparent dies, a girlfriend breaks up, a bully belittles, a “friend” gossips, failures pile on…

Sane people feel sad. Sometimes very sad.

Christians especially.

Jesus saw the crowds in need and felt compassion. “Com” means together or with. “Passion” means to suffer. Jesus “suffered with” those who suffered. And Jesus lives in me today. So when I see someone left out, read the news of a tragedy in West, hear of the bombing in Boston, learn about slavery or poverty…well, I should grieve with those who grieve. Jesus in me has compassion through me, and mourns the brokenness that spills out of Eden and out across humanity.

Teenagers aren’t little kids anymore. They’re more in tune with what’s happening in their parents’ marriage, in the family’s finances, in the world at-large than they were as children. They may, for the first time, encounter peers who don’t like them and let them know about it. They may feel, for the first time, like outsiders, like they’re not understood. They face deadlines, busyness and stress they haven’t before. Add to all this that disorienting cocktail of topsy-turvy hormones bubbling inside and, well, a healthy teenager should be sad sometimes.

And, I’m no doctor, but I don’t think sadness should be medicated.

Depression is very different.

Depression is…

“Clinical depression” and “major depression” are medical terms used to describe a condition characterized by some or all of the following symptoms:

• Profound sadness (often without reason) lasting at least two weeks
• Fatigue or loss of energy most days – if not every
• Insomnia (inability to sleep)
• Hypersomnia (excessive sleep)
• Anhedonia (inability to feel interest or pleasure in any activity)
• Feeling physically slower. As if you have a two year-old wrapped around each leg.
• Recurring thoughts of death or suicide
• Inability to concentrate, remember details, make decisions, process logical thoughts or respond as quickly as usual.
• Significant weight loss or weight gain (5% or more).
• Aches and pains (similar to the flu’s body aches), cramps, digestive problems that are not eased with treatment.
• Overwhelming feelings of insignificance, guilt, worthlessness, helplessness, anxiety, emptiness.
• Reduced sex drive
• Irritability
• Slow speech
• Crying spells (for no reason)

See A Doctor

Depression is a medical problem. See a doctor first. A doctor can quickly run tests to rule out conditions that can cause symptoms of depression (thyroid dysfunction, low iron levels, etc). A doctor can also prescribe antidepressants, if necessary.

I didn’t take antidepressants because double-blind peer-reviewed studies have shown them to be less effective than 5 HTP (a naturally occurring amino acid that the body turns into seratonin and melatonin for improved mood regulation and better rest). Antidepressants are also outperformed by 30 minutes of daily exercise. And the list of side-effects for antidepressants just freaked me out.

Depression Isn’t Just Physical

So, I took 5-HTP; walked 30 minutes to an hour every day; improved my diet by eliminating most processed food and eating fruits, vegetables, nuts and salmon. This is how my doctor and I treated depression’s physical causes.

But I also got serious about my spiritual health and saw a Christian therapist for my emotional health. (You can read about all of this in more detail here.)

Depression is a sickness. Like diabetes or high blood-pressure. Medical help is crucial. And, for me, therapy and nutrition and spiritual help were also vital to my recovery.

When We Treat Sadness Like Depression

But sadness is different. There’s a reason a person is sad. That reason may only heal with time. Therapy or some life-change may be needed as well. But medicine isn’t. And when we medicate our child’s sadness are we robbing them of the opportunity to learn important coping skills like…

• Identifying what they’re feeling and why
• Communicating what they’re feeling to others
• Asking God and people for help
• Putting problems into proper perspective
• Not retreating from community but relying on it instead
• Being mindful of negative thoughts and redirecting them toward gratitude and problem solving
• Cultivating present-mindedness

I didn’t go into this much detail with the students last night. But I wish I could have shared all of this info with their parents.

Understanding the difference between depression and sadness helps us treat both appropriately, be more compassionate toward and helpful to the depressed person, and put sadness in proper perspective.

Was this helpful at all to you?

Maybe this post from the past is part of the answer.

Dan Cathy’s conversation with Ken Coleman about leadership (and gay marriage) made headlines.

In the wake of his remarks, supporters of gay marriage took a stand by boycotting Dan’s company, Chick-fil-A. Some Christians took a stand by buying more chicken. Many bloggers took a stand.

And in my inbox…”Why haven’t you taken a stand on this yet?”

And in a group study at church yesterday…”But culture is getting so…don’t we have to take a stand?”

But I’m not angry. I’m not passionate. I don’t feel jilted or persecuted or outraged.

What’s wrong with me? No part of me wants to take a stand.

Some men came to Jesus one day, eager to tell Him the terrible news.

“They’ve killed again!,” they may have panted. “This time we know Pilate ordered the executions, Rabbi. This time they broke into our place of worship, mixed the blood of innocent Galileans with the sacrifice on the alter. This is an attack on God!” (Luke 13)

Soldiers sent by a debauched politician had broken divine and national law.

These types of massacres were common in the first Century. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote about several. He also chronicled the typical Jewish response. His accounts support the claims of Acts 5:36,27…

“For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody; and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. And he was slain; and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. “After this man Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away some people after him, he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered.”

In response to acts of Roman brutality, a Jewish leader would rise up and take a stand (sometimes violently). Throngs of people followed him to their deaths. Then another leader would rise up to replace him. He and his followers would take a stand to death. When that leader passed away, another would rise up and…

Now, after hearing that fellow Jews from his own neighborhood were murdered and their God mocked, would Jesus be the next to rise up and take a stand?

Several commentaries speculate that this was the hope of the tattlers. They were trying to goad Jesus into taking a stand against the Roman politicians, against Herodian Jews who supported Roman rule, take a stand for the zealots who wanted to overthrow the Romans and create a theocracy.

And Jesus did stand. But in an unexpected way.

Jesus responded, “Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die.” (Luke 13:2,3 The Message)

What?

“And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day,” Jesus continued, “the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die.” (Luke 13:4,5 The Message)

Jesus seems to have taken two stands that day.

First, tragedy is not punishment for sin.

Massacres in Galilee or Aurora, Colorado are not God’s punishment of sinners. If God were murdering sinners then Earth would be vacant. No, death comes (eventually) to us all so…

Second, get ready for death.

Acknowledge that you yourself, while not a murderer or a corrupt politician or a rights trampler, are a sinner deserving death everlasting. “Repent.” Give your sin, your eternity, your life today, your mind and strength and soul to God. And when you die you will live.

The tattlers must have been shocked. One commentator sums up their mistaken thinking this way.

“Jesus is more concerned with the eternal than the temporal. This is not to say that the loss of the people wasn’t serious, but Jesus’ mission was not to settle political disputes… The people were too short-sighted.”

Most shocking about the example of Jesus to me? He said nothing about the Romans. He didn’t publicly condemn their actions. Didn’t even mention them.

I’ve read all the red letters over the last week and not once could I find Jesus criticizing those outside the family of God for behaving like it. Jesus expected sinners to sin.

I’m most tempted to take a stand when my expectations are higher than Christ’s.

And these expectations of mine rob Jesus of his purpose – to save sinners, to live in them, because only by living through them could they desire and do good at all.

I forget there is no shortcut to righteousness. No magistrate, legislation, picket sign can bring change faster. We all must travel to the cross: Where one God-man took a stand against death and won so that anyone could have a new life.

2001 – Message Board

I was on tour with Bebo Norman and a very young Katy Perry back in 2001.

Most nights, after the concert, I’d read fan reviews on the message board of Bebo’s website. And sometimes I’d say “thanks” or answer questions people asked about life on the road, what song Bebo played third, what kind of guitar Katy was using…

I was hooked.

Record labels created a gap between artist and audience (inadvertently, I’d like to think). I heard a stylist say once “Wearing what they can’t have makes them want you more.” Artist websites were pamphlets that maintained this distance: places to read a label-crafted bio and press releases, look at professionally Photoshopped publicity pics, and see a listing of upcoming tour stops. They kept audiences informed but not connected.

But Bebo’s message board closed the gap. At the end of that tour in 2001 my label put a message board in the first shaungroves.com. Not only that, they added one to the site of every artist on their roster.

2005 – Shlog

I spent an hour every morning and evening reading and responding on my message board. Until Randy Elrod suggested in 2005 that I launch a blog.

Randy was the newly hired forward-thinking “Worship Arts Pastor” at the church I was part of. He was younger at heart than guys half his age and contagiously passionate about blogging. He suggested I read Hugh Hewitt‘s book Blog: Understanding The Information Revolution. And I did.

I started a blog unwisely named Shlog. Shaun + blog. Get it? Me neither…now. Readshlog.blogspot.com launched in May, 2005.

2006 – ShaunGroves.com

My label was immediately divided over my blogging. An intern thought it was genius. The president thought it was a narcissistic fad. The publicist expressed concern that the laser beam focussed messaging and image she’d crafted would be diluted by daily posts that were out of her control. There was a brief attempt to get me to stop blogging, but my contract gave control of shaungroves.com to my label yet didn’t prohibit me from launching a site of my own.

In 2006, my label closed its doors and gave me control of shaungroves.com. With the help of a mom in Texas named Kat (now head honcho at Inspired to Action and How They Blog) we redesigned shaungroves.com as a blog – not a typical artist site. As far as I know it was the first artist site of its kind.

I met Kat at the smallest concert I’ve ever played. Had the crowd been larger we may have never gotten to talk; I may have never learned she’d once worked as a web master for a radio station. I would have never known about her interest in taking on a web project “just for fun.” And it was fun – to reimagine what an artist’s web presence could look like and accomplish.

I did all the graphics. Kat did all the hard stuff. Unfortunately, we kept the name “Shlog.”

2009 – New ShaunGroves.com

The site I have today launched in 2009. The overall design was created by Brad Ruggles. The illustration at the top and bottom came from Barton Damer. And the hours of coding were done by Ben Stewart (now founder of Louder Media, a web design and development company).

The biggest and hardest change in 2009 was killing the message board. A tiny but close knit community had formed there over the previous eight years. I certainly got an ear-full from them when I took their gathering place away. But it needed to happen – with the advent of social media there were better places for that community to congregate…places that could even make it grow.

Another big change? No more Shlog. No more awkward conversations after concerts in the lobby of churches in which one woman asks another “Have you seen Shaun’s Shlog? You have to!” True story.

2013 – The Next ShaunGroves.com

Ben and I are beginning to plan the next rebuild of shaungroves.com. And I’d love your input.

What sites do you love the look of?

If money and time and technology were limitless…what would you like to see in the next shaungroves.com?

Last thing…

The Christian Alliance For Orphans and I are teaming up this Wednesday, April 24th for a free webinar on Harnessing Social Media For Good.

If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about using your online voice for good, register now for Wednesday’s free webinar. Class starts at 2PM Eastern and lasts until 3:30 with a time for Q&A.

Songs For West

I’ve never absorbed so much news. I’ve been reading and watching daily as the drama in Boston and West, Texas has unfolded – feeling like a helpless useless bystander. The Jesus in me mourned as the number of fatalities and injuries climbed, moved to do something. But what?

So thankful to get an email from Robbie Seay late last week inviting me to contribute a song to an album called #SongsForWest. It’s available through noisetrade.com here. You set the price you’re willing to pay for the album. All proceeds go to Baylor University’s relief work in West.

#SongsForWest is a massive album of 45 songs from Derek Web, Shane & Shane, Charlie Hall, Andrew Osenga, Robbie Seay and many many more.

If, like me, you’ve been moved to do something but haven’t known just where to start? Please download #songsforwest and spread the word through Twitter and Facebook too. Thanks.

Speaking of West

I almost never go to California – just too expensive to get out that way often. But I’ll be in northern California in May and I’ve got a couple days open I’d like to fill in. I’ll be in North Bend, Oregon on the 16th and in Mt. Shasta on the 19th. But I’ve got no place to be May 17th & 18th.

Maybe your church would be willing to host a concert on one of those days? Maybe a house concert with a meal/conversation beforehand with songwriters in the area? If you’d be interested in hosting me May 17th or 18th in northern California, please contact my booking guy Micah Watson at booking AT shaungroves DOT com. This is an extremely rare opportunity, my California friends. Let’s make the most of it!

We don’t charge an honorarium for our concerts and every show benefits Compassion International. Look forward to hearing from you!

Free Social Media Webinar

The Christian Alliance For Orphans and I are teaming up this Wednesday, April 24th for a free webinar on Harnessing Social Media For Good.

In today’s world some of the greatest impact in orphan advocacy is coming from online tools. How can you best use your voice for good while harnessing the technology at your fingertips? How can you get your message out effectively with both confidence and wisdom?

Join Shaun Groves, Coordinator of Blog Marketing for Compassion International, as he explores how to use your online voice for good in a way that will magnify your message and engage your audience.

If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about using your online for good, register now for Wednesday’s free webinar. Class starts at 2PM Eastern and lasts until 3:30 with a time for Q&A.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back soon.

We’re working with two agencies on our adoption. We’re adopting from Ethiopia through one, based in Texas. The other is local and handles what’s called the “home study.” Both agencies are taking us through hours of training on all things adoption and parenting related. Last night was our first class.

Kim, our teacher, passed out paper and pens and asked us to make a list. Make yours with me now.

First, write down the name of the most significant person in your life.

1. Becky

Write down your most important role.

2. Husband

Now, write down your greatest support group: Church, family, a friend…

3. Brian and Amy

Write down your heritage

4. American?

Next, write the word “knowledge.” This represents the information that gets you through the everyday tasks of your day.

5. Knowledge

Then, write down your favorite place.

6. Home

Write down “Cultural Information.” This represents everything you know about your culture.

7. Cultural Information

Now, write down “Resources.” This represents all your material possessions, everything you own that has worth.

8. Resources

Next, write down “Values.” This represents your faith, concepts of right and wrong, priorities, likes and dislikes…

9. Values

Last, write down the activity that brings you the most joy.

10. Hanging out talking & laughing with close friends

Now, which four things on this list could you live without? Mark through them now.

1. Becky
2. Husband
3. Brian and Amy
4. American?
5. Knowledge
6. Home
7. Cultural Information
8. Resources
9. Values
10. 10. Hanging out talking & laughing with close friends

Now, I promise everything will be OK. You will be just fine. Give up two more.

1. Becky
2. Husband
3. Brian and Amy
4. American?
5. Knowledge
6. Home
7. Cultural Information
8. Resources
9. Values
10. Hanging out talking & laughing with close friends

Now, I am the almighty social worker. Trust me. And give up two more.

I couldn’t. I couldn’t imagine life with any less than this.

I teared up a little. I was surprised at the deep sadness that gripped me. Beyond empathy. Beyond compassion. I think it was mourning.

I mourned all that the children I don’t yet know will give up to become my children.

Am I worthy of all this sacrifice? Is anyone?

Enjoy, while my family and I steal away together for a couple days.

God dug holes and called them Law.

God’s people were warned not to step in the holes so no one would get hurt. Or stuck.

One day well-meaning religious leaders, who loved God and His people deeply, decided to lay cones around the holes. With cones in place, no one would ever get too close and accidentally slip in.

God’s Law said, “Keep the Sabbath day holy; don’t work; rest.”

A leader scribbled his circle of cones around it: “Do not break a sweat on the Sabbath,” he wrote and “Don’t carry a needle in your clothes while walking or it could move around and accidentally sew.”

Then another religious leader declared another ring of cones to keep people from bumping into the first circle of cones: “Don’t light a fire on the Sabbath,” he said and “Don’t take more than x number of steps on the Sabbath.”

For the protection of God’s people and out of love for God, they went on and on like this for generations.

The cones of men became as revered as the holes of God. Cone crashers were excommunicated, cut off from family and church, and sometimes even killed.

Some people loved the cones more than each other. Sometimes even more than God.

Then the Law Giver put on skin and walked among the people – walked right through their cones, out onto slippery slopes, dangerously close to the holes. Sometimes he even reached down into holes to lift people out. He showed the people how to love without getting stuck in a hole.

Jesus crashed through the cones and right into a party where he turned water into strong wine. He stepped over cones and into the Temple where he healed a withered hand on the Sabbath. He kicked the cones out of His way to touch the dead and leprous. He kicked the cones out of His path on the way to lunch with crooked Roman tax collectors and prostitutes. He crushed the cones and sent an adulterous woman’s accusers away empty-handed.

Jesus hates our cones. No matter who lays them and how well-intentioned and helpful and old they may be.

I’ve laid some cones and called them holes. And I’ve got bruises from stones thrown when I bumped into someone else’s.

Don’t watch TV. Don’t date. Don’t get a tattoo. Don’t trick or treat. Don’t go to movies. Don’t buy an iPhone. Don’t listen to “rock music.” Don’t drink alcohol or go to places that serve it. Don’t play cards. Don’t get that haircut. Don’t send your kids to public school. Don’t buy Christmas presents. Don’t read Harry Potter. Don’t wear make-up. Don’t vote Democrat. Don’t do yoga. Don’t…

Now if your balance is a little off and you’re out walking alone, you might not want to venture too far past some of the cones right now lest you fall into a hole. It is slippery out there in some places. Use discernment.

But if you’re pretty good on your feet, for God’s sake…

Crash the cones.

Especially to love someone in a hole.

Tim Høiland, one of Lemonade International‘s bloggers (#LIBloggers on Twitter), wrote these words on day one of his trip to Guatemala…

At that time I was working for a behemoth of an NGO (a good behemoth, generally speaking), and while I certainly recognized the potential impact of a multi-billion dollar budget allocated for relief, development, and advocacy among the world’s poor, I was becoming more and more interested in organizations small enough to be relational and focused enough to have a tangible impact in a specific community over time.

What’s the difference between Lemonade International and other child sponsorship organizations? “small enough to be relational and focused enough to have a tangible impact in a specific community over time.”

This is branding. Really good branding. Tim understands what makes Lemonade International different, told me about that difference and tied a positive outcome to that difference.

Here it is again…

I once heard someone working for another child sponsorship organization describe themselves as “pretty much the same as Compassion International – we’re a child sponsorship organization.”

I wondered if he also thought…a Prius is pretty much the same thing as a Porshe. Tolstoy is pretty much the same thing as Seth Godin. An iPhone is pretty much the same thing as a Galaxy S3. Savannah College of Art & Design is pretty much the same thing as Harvard. Coke is pretty much the same as Dr.Pepper.

Cars. Authors. Smart phones. Schools. Soft drinks. All pretty much the same, right?

No way!

All may be great in their product classes, but none are the same. If two products are the same, one of them is unnecessary. Consumers want and need to know what makes each product different.

World Vision is better at global disaster relief than any other child sponsorship org I know of – hands down. Compassion International is committed to child development by working only through the local church. And Lemonade International is intensely focussed on community development in one community in one city in Guatemala.

Different. Diverse. One-of-a-kinds!

And saying so isn’t something to shy away from. It’s good branding!

As a marketer, I’m gonna do it. As a consumer, I need anyone selling me something to do it too.

Thank you, Tim, for telling us the difference.

What Christians Need To Know About Mental Health

First up, What Christians Need To Know About Mental Health from Ann Voskamp. As someone who’s been pummeled by depression a few times and shamed by Christians for it too? Thank you, Ann, for speaking up…with such wisdom and grace…as always…about a subject every Christian needs to understand better.

The Christian Guide To Atheism

Alise is a writer I’ve long read intermittently and respected a great deal for her diplomacy and gentleness. Somehow I missed that her husband, once a seminarian, had “deconverted” from Christianity to atheism a few years ago.

Alise is now in a rare and perfect position to make peace, and facilitate discussion, between Atheists and Christians. She’s doing a wonderful job of this in a series of posts she calls The Christian Guide To Atheists, debunking such myths as “Atheists hate God” and “Atheists find life meaningless.” She publishes a post about a different myth every week.

Atheists Dilemma

Speaking of atheism…Jordan Monge tells her story of finding faith in the briar patch of skepticism to Christianity Today…

I don’t know when I first became a skeptic. It must have been around age 4, when my mother found me arguing with another child at a birthday party: “But how do you know what the Bible says is true?” By age 11, my atheism was so widely known in my middle school that a Christian boy threatened to come to my house and “shoot all the atheists.” My Christian friends in high school avoided talking to me about religion because they anticipated that I would tear down their poorly constructed arguments. And I did.

As I set off in 2008 to begin my freshman year studying government at Harvard (whose motto is Veritas, “Truth”), I could never have expected the change that awaited me.

New Music From Micah Watson

I’m half of a two-man team. Micah Watson acts as my road manager, booking agent, and plays/sings with me onstage. Micah has been a professional musician since he was nineteen…and, I can’t tell you how old he is now, but let’s just say nineteen was a long long time ago. Years of making music have made him a skilled writer and player.

He’s working on a batch of songs I’m encouraging him to put out as an album someday. Vulnerable songs about mistakes and grace. He’s tentatively called the album “Little Foxes”. Here’s a rough version of a song called “Home” from that collection – unmixed or mastered – as raw as the truth Micah sings.

I’ll beg for mercy
I’ll plead for grace
Let me be your servant, not your son

Why Your Teen Should Join The School Marching Band

Alphamom wrote a hilariously true article called Why Your Teen Should Join The School Marching Band and as a former alto sax player who spent hours sweating on the blacktop standing at “parade rest” in Texas? I’m telling you she couldn’t be more right.

You know who looks stupid in a marching band uniform? That awkward, pimply kid who snorts when he laughs. You know who else looks stupid in a marching band uniform? The drum-playing Ashton Kutcher lookalike all the girls are giggling over. Everyone. Stupid uniforms are the great unifier. The playing field is completely level (pun intended) for the band kids on the fraught topic of looks, and this can be a real relief for kids who are constantly worrying if they measure up.

Truth, my friends. That is truth.

Sadness & Madness

Lastly, I couldn’t be a bigger fan of Beth Moore‘s right now – of her relentless communication of truth we need to hear…at just the right time. She’s somehow cuttingly direct and loving simultaneously. I know Beth only well enough to know that she would frown upon me giving her any credit for this skill. So I won’t. I thank God instead for these words God spoke to me and the rest of the internet this week through her in the wake of the tragedy that swallowed up Rick and Kay Warren recently.

Beth wrote this corrective reminder to unmerciful critics of public figures…

But even now at the hardest moment of their lives the Warrens can teach something vital if we are willing to learn. Their heartbreak demonstrates what has always been true but has never been more profoundly overlooked: these who serve us publicly also suffer privately. They are not caricatures. They are not just personalities. They are people living on a painful planet with the rest of us.

Read the rest of Beth’s post, Sadness and Madness, right here.