Cultural (or not) references

A few weeks ago, I spent the weekend with a friend and we started laughing at how often we said, “That reminds me of a Bluey episode…” If you want to riff on a scene, four things always work: A Hamilton lyric An old hymn A Disney song A Bluey episode Those older hymns do […]

Not My Job

It’s not my job to change anyone’s mind. It’s my job to listen to understand. To ask questions. To provoke conversation. To consider different viewpoints and ideas.To remain steadfast. To remember that my goal is growth in love. But I don’t have to convince anyone. As much as I want to be persuasive. As much as I believe in the […]

An experiment in notetaking

Today I finished How To Take Smart Notes. The book summarizes the system of notetaking of Niklas Luhmann, who was a prolific writer. How did he do it? He took good notes. He took literature notes on his reading, compiled separate notes on how the reading connected to the work he was doing and the […]

Seminary Notes 13: Goodbye, Hebrew

Wednesday morning, I printed out the four pages of my Hebrew final and dug in. We had three and a half hours to take it and I had less than fifteen minutes to spare by the time I turned it in. It was long. It was grueling. But it is done. In a different format, […]

Good lyrics, good vibes

Six or eight weeks ago, I made a playlist of country songs by female artists from the 90s and 2000s. I hope you are envisioning Shania Twain and Faith Hill because they are certainly on there. And Sara Evans. I had a huge Sara Evans obsession for a while in high school. I didn’t make […]

Theology matters, so does what we say about sex

Yesterday, a friend sent me a screenshot of Rich Villodas discussing his endorsement, and the retraction of his endorsement, for Josh Butler’s upcoming book Beautiful Union. I dug around into the story-though I couldn’t read the original post on The Gospel Coalition because they had deleted it-and was disturbed by the premise. In fact, I […]

The finish line

Last week, my academic advisor saved my summer and my graduation date. For months I had been mulling over how I could have four kids out of school, work a part-time job, complete apprenticeship requirements, and take two graduate classes. In case you are thinking, “easy, Lisa, just take fewer classes to accommodate for the […]