Where have I been?

This is my NYTimes “Recommended for You” section. It gets me, y’know?

Where have I been?

God has blessed me with some writing opportunities that have been pretty great.

Juicy Ecumenism: I am interning for the Institute on Religion & Democracy this summer and it’s been a total blast. I get to write a lot and have been linked on Real Clear Religion (I have an author page!), First Things, Crisis Magazine, and Touchstone, places I would read almost daily in college.

Mind Over Media: Some friends from church started a Patheos blog to discuss Jesus and books and film, three things I love. My first post on Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety is here.

Writing is funny. Now that I have an audience (albeit very small) writer’s block (which, in my life, can sometimes be a euphemism for laziness) is more rampant. It amazes me how, even in things so small as seeing my name in pixels, God has been merciful to me in revealing my sin so I can repent of it. The first time an article I wrote appeared in RCR, I spent a good portion of my lunch hour praying over my temptation to pride and its timid cousin, fear of man. Even just this small taste of “success” is enough to think much of myself.

To fight these temptations, I desire to make a habit of meditating on God’s character. Instead of minimizing these good gifts, I remember the Source. I think I am wise? It is only because Wisdom himself has given himself to me. Beautiful? Because Beauty has created me. I serve a good God from whom every good and perfect gift comes. So I will, relying on his grace, behold his glory – the glory of the one and only – and, because the veil is torn, be transformed from one degree of glory to another.

I hope to blog here again soon. I’ve been carrying a little black notebook around to scribble down ideas. I used to make copious “crazy person” jokes about a friend who adopted this practice. Hanwell resident, heal thyself.