Mr. Locke’s Classroom

Yesterday I was having a Samson moment. Because of some stuff happening in my life right now, I was feeling shorn of power, shorn of favor, and shorn of identity. Like Samson, it was mostly a situation brought on by my own arrogance and/or stupidity, but also like Samson, there was a certain [...]

For most of the past year, I have spent Tuesday mornings, Wednesday mornings, and a handful of Friday nights hanging out at Dunn Bros Coffee shop — a local coffee shop that, while a franchise, is at least NOT $tarbuck$.
After returning from a week-long mission trip in Oklahoma last week, I was stunned [...]

This is the last (for now) in my series of recently-written songs, an attempt to take my style more intentionally in the direction of simplistic and socially-conscious folk music. I should mention that this particular song seems to get the most negative reaction from those who’ve heard it so far (especially my wife) — [...]

For my birthday last week, Amy got me the special edition DVD of “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.” Basically, the original Star Wars movie that started everything off, and my personal favorite (It’s the archetypal Hero’s quest, after all).
But the best part was watching it with my two-and-a-half-year-old son, Grady. [...]

What Does it Mean to “Own” Something?
And two tangential questions:

Who or what grants ownership? God? Government? Consensus? Strength?
Are there things that cannot be owned? Places? People? Thoughts? God?

And yes, I fully realize the historical irony of someone with my last name asking this sort of question. For more on [...]

In Open-Source culture, taking someone’s programming code and modifying it to suit one’s own needs and purposes is not considered theft, but rather a compliment of the highest order. To that end, I’m taking a page from the blog of friend and fellow Presbymergent Adam Walker Cleaveland.
Over the course of the next [...]

So I’m sitting here in the middle of our church’s annual Session Retreat. For those of you who aren’t true blue Presbyterians, the session is the elected governing body of the church (kind of like a board of directors). As a staff member, I’m here to participate, but mostly observe and give input [...]