Tag Archive for: Essays

Blubber Rain: Lessons from an Exploding Whale Carcass

Bone fragments, chunks of rotting whale meat, slabs of stinking blubber, droplets of liquids, and a fine mist of various carcass fluids all rained down from a clear sky. Over the ocean? On a deserted beach? No. On a crowd of 75 fleeing spectators and their cars filling makeshift parking lots outside of Florence, Oregon, in 1970.

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Some TW Goodness: “Should We Kiss Dating Hello?”

It was published back in the middle of 2020 in Tomorrow’s World magazine, but if you didn’t read it then, here’s your chance!

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The first (and second) thing(s) I ever wrote in church services…

Today is the 33rd anniversary of the first time I ever attended Sabbath services in the Church. But rather than wax poetic about it, I just want to share a quick observation.

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What the first MCU Spider-Man soundtrack taught me about the nature of evil

[Note, 2/17/22: A link in this post was messed up. It’s been fixed!] A month or so ago, Spider-Man: No Way Home conquered the box office, and it seems the right time to unleash this observation I’ve been holding on to since Tom Holland’s first time headlining as the webslinger. (Not counting Captain America: Civil War. That’s why I said “headlining.” Details are important!) I wish I could take full credit for it, and I’d give full credit for the notice if I could, but it apparently began with some Reddit post back in 2017 or so and I’ve since lost any link to the original post.

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God’s Complicated Book

Every once in a while, when I asked my mom a question about the Bible, she would think for a minute, and give me an answer that sort of made sense to me, but not really. I would respond with another question, and she would go “Hmmmm” for a second, before saying, “I’m not sure, honestly. We might have to ask a minister about that one.”

That used to startle me—and frustrate me a little, too. “What?! Mom doesn’t even know?! But she’s supposed to be the Bible genius! She went to Ambassador College! They were supposed to teach her everything! What madness is this?!”

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Some Thoughts on Reputation

Before I was in the ministry, I worked for an online retailer. During my first year-and-a-half at the company, I managed the customer service department. We hired mostly young people in their late teens and early twenties. For many of them, it was their first job after finishing high school or college.

Over the course of hiring for the various customer service positions, I received many resumes. Some were creative and others were simple records of education and previous experience.

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What happened to “rare”? (a lesson on compromising moral stands)

Those tricksy abortionists…

I was reading an article related to the booklet I am writing on abortion (Pray for me! It’s almost done! Sort of!), and it included an image of a pro-abortion protestor holding up a sign. Here’s a screenshot of the sign:

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