by jakeowensby | Apr 14, 2023 | John 20:19-31
My mother used to say, “You have to take the bad with the good.” When I was disappointed, flabbergasted, outraged, or frustrated, those words never failed to infuriate me. What I heard her saying was, “Calm down.” In retrospect, I’ve come to recognize that she...
by jakeowensby | Oct 14, 2022 | Luke 18:1-8
When we returned to the room, Meredith was sitting up in bed. Puffy—her lovingly battered stuffed rabbit—was tucked under one arm. She was sipping apple juice from a straw. A Barney video was playing on the TV. And every nurse on duty in the Pediatric Cardiac ICU...
by jakeowensby | Oct 7, 2022 | Luke 17:11-19
Gracie was around ten weeks old when we adopted her. We had gone looking for an older dog, not a puppy. An abandoned or discarded former pet less likely to be welcomed into someone else’s home. But that’s not how things worked out. Gracie did not jostle with the rest...
by jakeowensby | Sep 30, 2022 | Luke 17:5-10
Don Armentrout stood tall enough to ride the big rollercoasters at Disney World and Six Flags. His balding head formed a kind of natural tonsure, and he peered through eyewear that resembled twin magnifying glasses. When I was a seminarian at Sewanee, Don delivered...
by jakeowensby | Jan 28, 2022 | grace, Luke 4:21-30
Polls tell us that a lot of people are angry these days. Habitually, set on steady-boil angry. We’re not talking about a measured righteous indignation at injustice or the momentary blood pressure spikes at life’s little indignities and frustrations. No, the research...
