My Life
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“My Ears Still Ring With The Foreign Cry That Had Been My Own Voice”: A Reflection on Irrational Anxiety and Compulsions
“My ears still ring with the foreign cry that had been my own voice.” –Annie Dillard * * * I am not OCD, but I still have compulsions. I think all of us do to some degree. Sometimes, even though I know that I locked the front door, I have to go back and make Continue reading
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An Account of My Spiritual Journey
For those interested, I have an update to my journey here. My purpose in writing this is to narrate my spiritual journey over the last six years so that those who care about me can understand some of my thoughts on the ways I have changed over the last six years. Because of my upbringing Continue reading
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How to Move Into a New Neighborhood That Everyone Thinks is Dangerous (Part 1)
We met with the realtor and viewed the house and signed the lease today. And we are filled with longing and hope and dreams for the future. The house is the final piece of the puzzle, the last large decision for awhile. And the rest is all new couches and moving trucks and utilities and Continue reading
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Leaving Abilene
We are tempted to view our lives progressively. And maybe much of the temptation lies in our physical development: If I am taller this year than I was last year, then I have grown. We assume that change equals growth and that growth is good. While our controlling narratives tend to emphasize growth (and progression), Continue reading
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On Being a Good Book
We helped Nonny (Amanda’s grandmother) from one assisted living home to another yesterday. And she told me that I “was such a good book” for helping her move. She has early-stage dementia, and one of her symptoms is what Amanda calls her “word salad.” She mixes up her words. Like, yesterday, the nails with which Continue reading
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On Being an Old Curmudgeon
To some degree, I’m a walking anachronism. While I’m obviously a member of, and conversant in, this generation’s culture, technology, and worldview–I nevertheless do not fit in in a variety of ways. Most of these ways have to do with technology in one way or another, though, of course, it goes beyond that. At times Continue reading
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My Faith and my Doubt: an Attempted Description
My mind has been circling the big questions again. As usual. And, as usual, I don’t know anything for certain. I don’t have much to say today that I haven’t said before, but perhaps re-framing it will help remind me of my choice. * * * I believe in the God of the philosophers. I Continue reading
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Shutting Up
I’ve always needed to shut up. All my life. I’m a know-it-all. A corrector. And that is a good trait much of the time. But it has frequently gotten me into trouble (John Mayer can relate). I’ve, in the past, tried making myself shut-up. Sometimes I retreat within myself. Sometimes I make rules. But, in Continue reading
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Happy New Year
Happy New Year! This past year has been a full one for me: I graduated from college. I survived my first semester of graduate school. I got engaged to Amanda. I was Drew’s best man (he is the first of my group of friends to get married, though a bunch of us aren’t that far Continue reading
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Meaning
You know those days, right? The ones where everything is a personal attack on you: Your boss gives you an assignment you don’t like, and you know she did it on purpose, just to spite you. And now you have to start your day doing that. And those idiots who are so loud while you Continue reading
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Lord Let me Love
There are those angry voices out there, shouting that Jesus “demands obedience” and we need to get “radical” and if you are a “real” Christian then you aren’t a “nominal” Christian and that means you have an “urgency” to save souls while selling all that you own and giving it to the poor. Bullshit. “My Continue reading
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All is Grace: Reading the World as a Christian
There is a tendency by those who hold faith to read the world ideologically. What I mean is that there is a tendency in certain circles to interact with different ideas according to how well those ideas fit into a preexisting schema. As a graduate student at a Christian university, I suppose I should have Continue reading
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Why I will not be the Head of my Household
Programming note: I have an updated understanding and account of Christian marriage here that I think is more accurate. * * * So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. There is a large stream of Christian Continue reading
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I’m Engaged
I am engaged to be married. Last night I proposed marriage to Amanda, the woman I will spend the rest of my life with. And the first words out of her mouth were “for real?” Yes, my Love, for real. For ever. Below is the first poem I ever wrote for Amanda: Right Now I Continue reading
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Five Thoughts for New Students (Year 2)
This is my second annual blog post giving five thoughts to new students. Last year—when I wrote the first piece—Welcome Week was coming to a close, and my role as a senior Peer Leader for a freshman Cornerstone course was about to begin. In that first post, I focused primarily on spiritual goods. I still Continue reading
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Lean Into It
“Lean into it,” I whisper to the screen. The words come out sounding inevitable. Like there is no other choice. Like: this shit happens whether you want it or not. And I’m not even sure who I was whispering to. Those children? Their parents? The aid workers? Myself? Because it’s not just them. Or just Continue reading
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Facebook in Moderation
Back in April I wrote a blog post about why I had deleted my Facebook page and my Twitter feed. Essentially, I argued that Facebook and Twitter contributed to the lack of silence in my life in that they allowed me to fill my time with less meaningful things. And, more importantly, Facebook and Twitter Continue reading
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Praying Part Two: The Activity of God in the Mundane
Yesterday, I blogged about the problem I have being able to interact with God as if he were an external friend with whom I could have a social relationship. You can read that post here. Today, I am going to describe the way I approach prayer. I am an INTJ (weak on the I. I’m Continue reading
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Praying Part 1: Imagination and Thinking out Loud
As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I am reading T.M. Luhrmann’s book—When God Talks Back. Dr. Luhrmann is a psychological anthropologist. The book focuses on her investigation of the way prayer works for evangelical Christians. Specifically, she has researched charismatic evangelical Christians within the Vineyard denomination. While I am not going to fully Continue reading
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I am saved right now: two snapshots
Sarah Bessey has asked “What is saving your life right now?” These are my responses: * * * I’m spending this week with Grandma. And so yesterday she and I loaded up into the suburban and drove the four minutes to Third & Dwight Church of Christ. And there is the man—who Grandma says is Continue reading
About Me
Gregory C. Jeffers
Anglican Christian | Husband | Father | Teacher | Scholar | Poet
G. C. Jeffers 