♪At one point the title to Collin Hansen’s 2008 book Young, Restless, Reformed would have described me quite well. I was young (in my early 20s), restless (in many ways) and Reformed (drinking regularly from the well of the three Johns: Piper, Edwards and Calvin).

I love to dabble in different creative projects. Whether it’s carpentry or gardening or cooking or painting—it all brings me great fulfillment.

♪Hello there, my name is Andreas Huebert. I am a contemporary artist—a sculptor. I was born in Central Asia, in Kyrgyzstan 51 years ago. I started to sculpt at a very young age, but unfortunately, stopped doing it when I became a teenager.

♪Loneliness can be a time of being depressed and feeling sorry for oneself or it can be regarded as a gift from the Lord to get closer to him. So much of life is in the attitude we have.

♪“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

♪“What do you think about Donald Trump?”

♪ Every Christmas Eve my children look forward to my purple plum torte. Along with roasted turkey and Walter C. Scott’s A Christmas Carol, the simple yellow cake crowned with plums and sprinkled in cinnamon sugar is tradition. Every year the challenge remains the same—in December plums are not grown in northern climes.

♪ An era is ending. See if this agrees with what you’re seeing. For the last several generations, when our churches needed a new pastor, we assumed there was a group of moveable pastors “out there” looking for a church. “Out there” were unknown pastors trained, experienced, and ready to move their families across the continent to pastor our church.

♪ A recent article by James Wood recounts his evolution from a fanboy of Tim Keller to a critic (www.firstthings.com, May 6, 2022). His argument sparked a flurry of responses, both positive and negative (from David French at frenchpress.thedispatch.com and Rod Dreher at www.theamericanconservative.com, for example).

♪ Each Conference Council is an opportunity for delegates to speak—on behalf of their churches about the items on the agenda, and especially after lunch during roundtable discussions. This year the discussion focus was on connecting.

♪ Who created art?

I always begin my lectures with this question. Perhaps you already have an answer in mind. However, the truth is that the question is not so simple to address.

sleepless she slumps in tears

on the couch peers

through the blinds

a street lamp her only light

where is the light for her soul?

where is forgiveness?