The pace is slowing down a little bit, but I had enough sleepless nights from jet lag to bang out a few unsolicited opinions.

Is Black Lives Matter Overblown?– There’s been a lot of discussion about the Black Lives Matter movement and a lot of people are skeptical. I tried to take skeptics’ concerns seriously and write an article demonstrating how one could– and should– support the goals of Black Lives Matter even if the tactics or underlying ideologies might make you squeamish. Tyler Burns and Drew Dixon also invited me onto the CaPC Digest podcast to discuss this article and we had a great conversation about police reform, public justice, and loving your local community.

Songs For The Fight– Music has always meant a lot to me and good music has gotten me through some dark places. I wrote about how I got to meet Andrew Peterson one time and how our conversation demonstrated how doctors and artists need one another in the Body of Christ. Also, why I wish sometimes that I could be a lawyer, social worker, or an independent singer-songwriter.

Rain For Roots: Music That Teaches Us To Wait For The Lord– One of the albums that has been getting us through the tough parts of our transition to South Sudan is Rain For Roots’ “Waiting Songs”. This was ostensibly a kids’ album, but it– like other good art made for children– can be good for adults, too.

The Christ and Pop Culture 25: #6-#10– Every year, Christ and Pop Culture does a list of their 25 favorite people & cultural artifacts. I wrote the blurb for Wesley Hill’s book Spiritual Friendship, which made it to #10 on the list. If you’ve been following me for any length of time you know I love Wes’ work and I loved this book, so if you were waiting for one more push to go buy it, here you go!

Why Bernie Sanders Shouldn’t Call Baltimore “Third World”– Bernie Sanders was thoughtful enough to make a campaign stop in Sandtown, but while there he described the neighborhood as looking like a “Third World country”. I wrote about how that mindset and language constrains our political imaginations and undermines the sort of development we’d want to see in Sandtown.