there’s little more i can add to the conversation surrounding monday’sboston marathon bombing. we’ve collectively mourned the loss of lives, searched for answers to why this happened and watched the explosion footage over and over in disbelief. when these senseless tragedies happen, we’re left with a lot of talk and very few answers.

it’s unlikely, then, that a comedian would add some worthwhile words of wisdom. but that’s exactly what patton oswalt did in a facebook post monday afternoon. quite frankly, i’m not that big of a fan of patton oswalt, but his words transcended whether or not i laugh at his jokes or watch his movies. i’m including his entire statement here. he writes,

truth is everywhere.

so was i reminded yesterday when i happened upon a tweet from @Buddha_Insights (via damien echols):

https://twitter.com/Buddha_Insights/statuses/295849109473091584

file this tweet in the category, “shots fired”. in this case, (whether it’s intentional or not) the shots flew in the direction of christianity. and, quite frankly, the shots are fair. (as well as this one, but that’s another post altogether.)

i have a good friend who forbids his elementary-aged child from attending his parents’ church. he’s spent quite a few years working through what he feels like was a deceptive religious upbringing. now a church leader himself, he doesn’t want his child to be exposed to beliefs in a church setting that he views not only as wrong, but as his experience has proven, hurtful.

simply put, he fears a process of deprogramming with his child.

though i absolutely understand his feelings, i’ve felt like he was a little too overbearing with his probhibition.

now, though, i’m moving toward his point-of-view.

ray rivera, pastor and founder of latino pastoral action center in the bronx, once told a story about a conversation he had with a midwestern pastor who insisted rivera was too political. so rivera asked, “pastor, tell me how your local schools are.” the pastor replied, “they’re top notch. some of the best in our state.” rivera continued, “tell me about your local hospitals.” “they’re excellent,” replied the pastor. “tell me about your libraries.” the pastor said, “our community is very proud of them.” rivera paused before responding, “pastor, in our community, our schools are failing, our hospitals are woefully behind and our libraries are full of hand-me-down books that are falling apart. because we love our neighbors, we’ve become their advocates for a better a community. if anything, we risk not being political enough.”

this isn’t the first time i’ve blogged about conversations on real time with bill maher. in spite of having regular (weekly, probably) disagreements with some of maher’s positions, it’s one of my favorite shows because of the blend of maher’s humor and the show’s candid conversations.

i’m not a walmart hater. i have many friends who are, but i’m not. at all. in fact, i think walmart is actually good for communities. there’s certainly some negatives that come with its presence, but ultimately, i think offering products at lower prices is good for lower income families.

i say that simply to establish that i’m not the type who looks for reasons to bash walmart.

but yesterday, as i entered a local walmart, i was greeted with a large sign that hung above the entrance. here’s the sign:

if, over the last couple days, you were to take a peek at the theological social media circles i run in, you’d be hard-pressed to miss the stunning story that matthew paul turner shared on his blog. delivered in 2 parts (part 1 and part 2), he shared the story of a guy named andrew who, until recently, was a member of mark driscoll’s mars hill church in seattle. you can read turner’s posts to get the full story, but in essence, this guy became subject to church discipline for confessing to sleeping with his fiancée and for having an inappropriate (platonic) relationship with another girl.