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Essay

I Want to Ride My Bicycle (Not Really)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncQsBzI-JHc Two days ago I bought a bike. Not just any bike... a road bike. I already have a nice tool around town, stuff in a basket, professorish bike. But I have a bad leg, I'm getting older, and I had to move the wrong way with…
Jason Lief
August 14, 2015
Essay

I Owe My Life to VBS

Have you ever looked back on your life and connected the dots, only to discover one particular moment that set you on your current path? I'm talking about a moment that if it had gone a different way would have meant an entirely different life. I was thinking…
Jason Lief
July 31, 2015
Essay

The Promise of Serve Projects

At the institution where I teach I've come to be known as the "guy who hates serve projects." This comes from my ineffective attempts to carefully critique all of the money and time that go into these projects, as well as the terrible theology that is…
Jason Lief
July 17, 2015
Essay

Ad-Vocate

"Contrary to what people often think, the key to easing people's suffering is not in offering some insidious theodicy, but in allowing a place for people to mourn, and to meet others who know what it is to have been burned by that same black…
Jason Lief
June 19, 2015
Essay

The Beauty of Baseball

In my former life as a high school teacher I was a coach. For 10 years I coached baseball at every level—freshman, junior varsity, and finally varsity. I wasn't the greatest coach in the world, but I wasn't the worst either. We won some big…
Jason Lief
June 5, 2015
Essay

Stained by Our Experiences

This morning we welcome April Fiet as a guest blogger. April is a mom of two, school-age kids, and a co-pastor of Dumont Reformed Church in Dumont, IA alongside her husband Jeff. About a year ago, my husband, two kids, and I were heading from…
Jason Lief
June 1, 2015
Essay

David Letterman and Carnival

A friend, who happens to be an excellent preacher, has said on numerous occasions that there's an important connection between comedians and preachers. There's timing—the right word at the right time evoking a specific response. There's the use of language, words that mean something specific,…
Jason Lief
May 22, 2015
Biblical StudiesEssay

Birdman: A Secular Parable

Birdman, the 2014 winner for best picture, tells the story of a washed up former super hero actor trying to make a come back by directing and starring in a broadway play. Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu—who directed the trilogy 21 Grams, Amores Perros, and Babel—the film…
Jason Lief
May 8, 2015