Photographer by Accident – Faces

I was at a high school today doing picture day retakes. Naturally, on retake day at a high school, I get the really picky people who need a million shots before the smile or the hair is just right. Most of the people on retake day are pretty insecure. Today a girl came to the [...]

Stupid Batteries.

Let me recount a couple of events to you. A few months ago I was downtown Toronto with a friend. We were in a part of town that was unfamiliar to me. The streets were narrow and the buildings towered above us on either side. How tall they were I cannot really say because we [...]

On Angels, Brutes and Dark Knights

“Man is neither angel nor brute, and the unfortunate thing is that he who would act the angel acts the brute.” Blaise Pascal Why has western civilization fallen in love with a guy in a bat suit and a guy in a clown costume? I think it is because in some ways the story of [...]

The kids aren’t alright… anymore.

When I was 17 I swore I’d never do it, but it happened. I grew up. I’ve been reflecting a lot in the last year or so on my childhood and teenage years. Thanks to Facebook, I now know everything that is going on in the lives of every person I’ve ever met. We didn’t [...]

Shhh! We’re Trying to Watch the Movie.

Everybody knows how to watch a movie but not everybody knows how to watch a movie well. There is a difference between simply watching movies for entertainment and watching a movie to really interact with it. It occurred to me a few years ago that people probably don’t make movies so that audiences can be [...]

Margarine and Eggs.

Do you ever just stop and ask ‘what am I doing?’ You should try it. My wife and I were at the grocery store this weekend. We needed eggs. I glanced over to the margarine isle and decided that I should go and see what the prices were like. Eventually, I decided that they were [...]

Come As You Are

God doesn’t accept you as you are… Now that’s a bold statement isn’t it? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard Christians say “God will accept you just as you are.” Why does he do this? “Because he loves you.” When I first heard Come as You Are by Nirvana I instantly thought [...]

Noxious Culture

Virtue, Character and Culture I was listening to Os Guinness this morning. He was talking about truth and if you are interested you can find his talk here. He made an interesting comment a little more than half way through. He said that the world of culture is where the virtues are formed and character [...]

Why Isn’t Marriage Exciting?

So, a few weeks back I posted some things about marriage that I learned from one of my favorite philosopher/theologians. That post is now getting more hits than my two top posts combined. This really surprised me because this blog is supposed to be about philosophy, music and Jesus. But perhaps we should be thinking [...]

No Happy Endings

“The last act is tragic, however happy all the rest of the play is; at the last a little earth is thrown upon our head, and that is the end forever.” ~ Blaise Pascal Well, maybe there are some happy endings but there are no guarantees. I saw Cloverfield the other night and thought that [...]