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We inhabit different universes. We have no shared standards of conduct, especially sexual conduct. Our elites jettisoned all the old rules a long time ago, and we have to limp along on the thin reed of consent. There were odd twists in the latest spectacle. Some traditionalists excuse Kavanaugh for youthful indiscretions; for sexual progressives, his opposition to Roe is evidence he’s a creepy serial rapist. Our rudderless sexual ethics make no sense: The same people who defend pornographers and sex workers are in high dudgeon whenever someone acts out a pornographic fantasy.

Measurement of ministry effectiveness by way of clear, stated, and calculated metrics should have guided most church systems, but rarely have. Rather, fannies in seats and coins in offering plates have traditionally been the only indicators of church health.

Millennials are the canary in the mine telling us that our impersonal reliance upon technological shortcuts, in both work and personal interactions, has its drawbacks. They long for greater connection and purpose. A fundamental aspect to the imago Dei in each person is the inter-relatedness of the Trinity. The next generation has noticed what many of us have not seen creep up all around us as technological advances have claimed more and more of our attention.

In our culture we are abundantly blessed with opportunities for laziness. We don’t have to walk miles for clean water or hunt for food. At the press of a button, without leaving our homes, food and things appear on our doorsteps from all over the world. We can afford to be picky, to have a brand preference, to complain about calories. Even more so, we can afford to quit when things just are not working out the way we had wanted or planned. Everything is convenient.

My core Evergreen business, Spraggins Inc., is a building products and construction services company based in Orlando, Florida and focused on the contract residential market. In 2007, the great recession hit our business extremely hard. Homebuilders just stopped building.

The job shaming of actor Geoffry Owens (known primarily from The Cosby Show) last week should cause all of us to pause. In case you missed it, let me catch you up on pop news. Geoffry Owens, like many actors, is a part of an industry that is not known for steady work. Geoffry took a job at Trader Joe’s to remain flexible for auditions and still provide income to support his family.

I often lay in bed at night, exhausted from the day, and think, “Isn’t it amazing that God made our bodies capable of recharging as we sleep so we can get up and do the same thing again tomorrow?”  We can be utterly spent in the evening and wake up refreshed in the morning.  But sometimes, it’s not that simple.  Sometimes, life is overwhelming and we need more than just physical refreshment.  Sometimes, our hearts need to be revived; we need spiritual renewal.

Strange how it keeps happening, how the greatest works of Chinese art keep getting brazenly stolen from museums around the world. Is it a conspiracy? Vengeance for treasures plundered years ago? We sent Alex W. Palmer to investigate the trail of theft and the stunning rumor: Is the Chinese government behind one of the boldest art-crime waves in history?

My apologies all the way around for what amounted to a great big tease last week when no video was embedded in the previous blog. The problem has been sorted out but the only solution is to include the link rather than the actual video. The ideas that Dr. Amy Sherman, a Senior Fellow at the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research (where she directs the Center on Faith in Communities), puts forward is worthy of our consideration as we embark on vocational guilds together.

We are back and off of the July Screen Sabbatical. This week’s blog post is an interview with James K.A. Smith and Roberta Ahmanson and they are discussing a fascinating topic—patronage. Most interviews that are transcribed can be a little rough and this one is no exception, but it is well worth the read.  Patronage is a lost concept in our culture today and especially with a view towards eternity.