The Encouraging Thomist

Jesus Calls the Fishermen Icon I. When God calls you,  will you be ready? For us as Christians,  as followers of Jesus Christ,   this is an incredibly important question for us all to consider. And two essential parts of following God is:  One must be attentive to God's voice calling out to us,  and  one must be discerning about God's will for the world. Be attentive,  and be discerning. Because there are so many loud, disparate voices vying for our attention  every second of every day. The voice of anger is pretty strong these days,  asking you to be discontent and irritated at any small thing   that doesn't quite go your way or fit into your worldview.    Anger and outrage, by the way, is how popular news stations get you to watch. What about the non-etherial voices of our lives?  The voices of our family members, planning that vacation together,   while still finding the time to argue and bicker amongst themselves.    We've all been

Jesus and the Gerasene Demoniac Icon I. Have you noticed how skilled we are  at dividing ourselves into groups? Think about how many ways we do this. For example,  if you walk into the high school cafeteria,   you will undoubtedly see that there are distinct groups    that everyone has subdivided into. The "popular kids" are in that group,  the "nerds" are in that group,   the sports players are over in another group,    and so on and so forth. But you and I both know  that it's not just the kids in junior high that do this, right?   We adults are often no better. In a workplace, you may have the outdoor adventurers who are hiking and camping all the time,  you'll have the active people who go to yoga and gym class together.   You'll have the golfers talking about which course they are going to next,     you'll have the book loving group talking about the latest novel.      And you will have the 9-5'ers who put th

Pentecost Icon I. The Tower of Babel  is more important than you may think it is. This story of the Old Testament may seem strange,  enigmatic,   maybe a little contradictory to our expectations of God. I mean, what happens in this account in Genesis anyway? All of humanity was united in one language.  Well, that doesn't sound so bad, huh?   We are usually really positive about unity     and it seems odd that this should be anything but positive, right? One day, humanity wants to build a big city  with a really big tower,   so that they aren't scattered around the world.    I mean, nothing wrong with that right? And then God,  looking down at what those pesky mortals are doing   decided to confuse their language     and stop them from building that city      with that super tall tower. If you read it this way,  God seems like a super big buzzkill,   and maybe even a little scary.    And this is the way that many people read this passage. BU

The Philippian Jailer before Paul and Silas - Holman Bible Handbook I. On a bright, windy day in Topeka Kansas,  in the year 1992,   a young kid walks into a music shop. Andy is his name.  And Andy wants to learn how to play the guitar. Andy is a soft spoken kid,  tends to be quieter and introverted,   but always has a sweet demeanor and a kindness around him. Andy shops around and finds a nice little nylon string guitar,  from the guitar manufacturer Aria,   and decides that he wants this one. Andy's father counts out the cash to the attendant at the counter  and Andy takes his brand new guitar home.   As he clumsily plunks with one finger on the strings    and shapes his hand to the fretting on the top,     it feels as if his hand is disfiguring into anything but a natural position. But he is unperturbed by the momentary discomfort.  He is learning to play the guitar. Andy begins guitar lessons soon after,  bringing his Aria acoustic guitar with