i’ve had an up and down relationship with jars of clay. they’ve had albums that sound like the most fresh new sound and they’ve had albums that sound like warmed-over contemporary christian music. but with this song, they’ve definitely shown me everything that is right about them.

several days ago, hbo premiered the sundance festival grand jury prize-winning documentary, how to die in oregon. the film documents the journey of several people towards physician-assisted suicides in oregon, the only state—as of 2004—where it is legal.

as a fan of documentaries in general and as someone who finds this topic particularly engaging, i eagerly anticipated its premiere. while it isn’t necessarily the best documentary i’ve seen (though it’s very good), it certainly compelled me to spend plenty of time contemplating what i watched and wrestling with the issue of euthanasia more than i have in quite some time.

the book or the movie? it’s the classic question that supposedly separates the intellectuals from the, well, non-intellectuals. i have absolutely no shame in saying that i’m a “movies” guy. almost aways. of course, i just don’t read any fiction or could-be-a-movie books. most of the reading i do is of the theological variety and there’s not too many movies [...]

over the last half a year, i’ve blogged about derek webb’s latest innovative project called democracy vol. 1. earlier this year, fans could cast votes for up to 12 songs that they wanted webb to cover. then, the 12 songs receiving the most votes would be covered by webb for the album. the album has been in the process of [...]

this is part of an ongoing series called 25 in the 2000s. if you want a bit of information about the series, you can find the introduction here. often, the story of a culture, a people, a time period is shared through cinema. movies transcend moments and create timeless asides from normal life. so it was over the last 10 [...]

this is part of an ongoing series called 25 in the 2000s. if you want a bit of information about the series, you can find the introduction here. it seem as if the last 10 years have been a particularly explosive and salient time in the world of religion. from a new pope to the brazen use of religion in [...]

the year: 1999. your shopping list: several flash lights, 4 or 5 large packs of batteries, a few cases of bottled water, nonperishable food items, a swiss army knife and several boxes of zombie repellant. why? y2k, of course. yes, in 1999, the world prepared itself for the certain meltdown of all that we had previously known as organized civilization. [...]