Kicking, Screaming, and Following Jesus

Posted on: January 12, 2015 /
Categories: Courage, Disability, Faith, Following Jesus, Grief, Henri Nouwen, Pain, Uncategorized

I find Jesus very easy to follow in theory.  Its when he wants to go somewhere specific that I start having problems. December 2nd, 5am: I’m inexplicably unable to sleep and find myself reading “A Road to Daybreak” by Henri Nouwen.  He talks of God’s call on him to leave the intellectually stimulating environment as a professor at Harvard

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The Covid-19 Economy & The Liquidity of Jesus’ Blood

Posted on: April 8, 2020 /
Categories: Uncategorized

“Don’t look now but there is something funny going on over there at the bank” said Ernie the cab driver in the iconic run on the bank scene of Its a Wonderful Life. I’ve thought of this scene several times during the Covid-19 pandemic and the screeching halt of the global economy. Of all the

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Eating a Hard Breakfast with Walter Brueggemann

Posted on: October 21, 2015 /
Categories: Grief, Old Testament, Pain, Problem of Evil, Walter Brueggemann

Walter Bruegemann is an Old Testament scholar who has interacted with the Old Testament in a deeply honest way.  The result is fresh and prophetic (read troubling and unsettling).  In a podcast interview with Marc van Bulck I discovered recently, he deals with messy themes of the Old Testament as unflinchingly as a triage doctor on

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This is Fatherhood

Posted on: July 15, 2015 /
Categories: C.S. Lewis, Fatherhood, Following Jesus, Love, Meaning, Pain

Today, my dad turns 70.  There is only one Allan Van Allen…thats one of those safe statements I can make in the world.  Anyone who knows my dad would agree. Dad, you have been an old-school dying-breed family man.  You loved, love, and will love Mom…its an axiom of my universe.   Keeping that government

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A Valentine’s Liturgy for Love

Posted on: February 13, 2015 /
Categories: Love

If you’re like me you may feel a little nauseous in the swirl of pink, chocolate and Shades of Grey this Valentines.  Sure, I could rant for a while about the shallowness of holiday consumerism or the dehumanization of our oversexed culture but instead lets just pray. Here are some selections from an Anglican Valentine’s liturgy I

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Lost in the Puritan Woods with John Piper

Posted on: January 20, 2015 /
Categories: Uncategorized

Yesterday I watched a new video released by the Gospel Coalition with Piper, Carson, and Keller in which the three of them spoke about influential authors and who they would want their followers to read.  No surprise, the conversation was dominated by C.S. Lewis for Keller and Jonathan Edwards for John Piper. Keller encourages younger

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