by jakeowensby | Aug 25, 2023 | Holocaust, Matthew 16:21-28
When people first learn that my mother survived the Holocaust, they frequently ask me if she was Jewish.[1] It’s understandable. The Nazi Final Solution targeted Jews. Six million of them died in the camps. It comes as a surprise to them when I explain that my mother...
by jakeowensby | Jun 24, 2022 | Luke 9:51-62
Lots of us are feeling a little shaky these days. Overwhelmed, exhausted, anxious, disoriented. Well no wonder. Just take a look around: There are shootings at elementary schools and at church potlucks. You can’t find baby formula, and you can hardly afford to fill...
by jakeowensby | Jul 2, 2021 | Uncategorized
A few weeks before our wedding, I admitted to Joy that I was terrified. This was not a case of the pre-wedding jitters. Many people worry about whether or not they’re marrying the right person. But something else entirely had me in its grip. I was realizing that I am...
by jakeowensby | Jan 29, 2021 | Mark 1:21-28
A good friend of mine—we’ll call him Jeff—is a highly decorated combat veteran. Jeff has told me about some of his wartime experiences. Sharing these stories is something he does rarely. And he discusses these things with only a small, trusted circle. Jeff watched...
by jakeowensby | Jan 15, 2021 | John 1:43-51
“Before the truth sets you free, it tends to make you miserable.” This is Richard Rohr’s amplification of Jesus’s famous teaching: the truth will set you free. (Falling Upward, p. 74; John 8:32) What I take Rohr—and more basically Jesus—to be saying is something like...
