https://www.allthisgift.com/sermons daily 0.75 2025-04-15 https://www.allthisgift.com/morning-prayer daily 0.75 2022-10-26 https://www.allthisgift.com/how-to daily 0.75 2020-04-08 https://www.allthisgift.com/contact daily 0.75 2020-03-26 https://www.allthisgift.com/about daily 1.0 2025-05-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e7b91ebd189ac46cb02e0c4/1646847788436-LXQ0HM73QVVYGWOUFII0/D75_7181.jpg About - Sharing God As He Is Revealed Greetings! This site is a part of my response to God’s call in my life, and was initiated by a need to continue being a church community during the era of on-again/off-again social distancing that was COVID. I never thought I’d have a website. While the urgent need for it has passed, it remains a way for me to connect to the wider world. If you’re looking for ways to connect with God as a family, or if you’re seeking resources for deepening your own spiritual walk, take a look around. You’ll find opportunities to join in praying the Daily Office of Morning Prayer, learn techniques for praying both with and without The Book of Common Prayer, and more. The contact page begs you to ask questions, and I will thoughtfully answer to the best of my ability (or, at the least, point you in the right direction). I currently serve as Associate Rector for Family Ministries at The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Corpus Christi, Texas, and I also serve as chaplain to a vibrant PK2-8th grade school, Saint James Episcopal School. My passion in ministry is the conversation: sharing and talking about God as He is revealed in Christ, through Scripture, in creation, and within the people who worship Him. As I see it: In Him we know—as one of my favorite prayers puts it—that all this life is gift and “all this gift is pilgrimage.” I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and I am a “cradle-Episcopalian.” Before heading off to seminary, I was a firefighter, ski patroller, fly fishing guide, and a teacher—all high energy pursuits driven by a deep call to service. My wife, Claire, and I have a daughter, a son, and a golden retriever, and together we take joy in all this gift He provides. https://www.allthisgift.com/articles daily 0.75 2024-08-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e7b91ebd189ac46cb02e0c4/08b02820-4796-47c2-a063-2d8c18dc2162/IMG_0075.jpg Articles - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e7b91ebd189ac46cb02e0c4/1630422329533-0NTSZFOHS0EYKD1JKJ51/Risk.JPG Articles - Understanding Faithful Risk (Content produced for the September 2021 COTGS Newsletter) Every few years, I find myself thinking about risk in a new way. Fatherhood certainly changed my attitudes and understanding thereabouts, but most recently my consideration stems from the ongoing pandemic and conversations that Claire and I have about what is and what is not worth “the risk” to our family—things like daycare, school, work, and, yes, even church. Those same conversations have me thinking, too, about how I can approach risk as more a spiritual practice than to focus solely on the negative consequences I traditionally associate with risk. Because risk is an essential part of a relationship with God. Throughout Scripture God calls people into risk in His Name. God, in Christ, risks temptation, suffering, pain, and even death on a cross for us. And Christian history is filled with examples of Spirit-filled people of God risking everything in their earthly lives to perpetuate the gospel message. Even in “normal times” and in “normal worship” we risk: as we forgive and confess and seek forgiveness for our sins; as we contemplate His goodness next to our shortcomings; as we gather to pray, worship, give thanks, study, and talk about our witness of God in the world. These risks are amplified in times of great need—COVID is a time of great need. With most spiritual practices the task is not so much to let things go completely but, rather, to hold them lightly to increase understanding of God and self. So I ask: how can I hold up all the risks I see and fear for myself and my family, make a turn, and give over the burden of them to God? How can I better measure the risks I take and for what reasons I take them? Changing how we approach something begins with naming and understanding it (it’s the same with sin—naming something forces us to acknowledge it in order to start working with it). So yeah, “risk”—named. Next, what is it—how do we understand risk? How should we? The Oxford English Dictionary defines risk as, “exposure to the possibility of loss, injury, or other adverse or unwelcome circumstance” (OED, 3rd Edition, 1989). That seems apt, but in the last decade the study of risk assessment and management has changed the way people talk about risk. In 2018, for example, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO is an organization headquartered in Switzerland that develops and publishes technical, industrial, and commercial standards that are internationally agreed by experts) has changed their definition of “risk” in its most universal applications from “the chance or probability of loss” to this: “the effect of uncertainty on objectives” (ISO 31000, 2018). I think the change in definition speaks to how differently individuals—each one of us—approach risk. It also removes the negative. Not all risks are bad--some risks are healthy and others are essential. Even louder, the change to include the element of uncertainty in risk speaks to the fact that—as a people—we are failing to stop and recognize the “why.” Why am I taking or not taking this risk? Now we’re making some progress. Risk speaks to objectives (what we have to gain) as much as it speaks to uncertainties (the eventual cost of pursuing the gain). We should measure both. A conversation about risk from a spiritual perspective, then, is a conversation about values (what’s important to you) and stewardship (what you believe about what you’ve been given). Maybe next time you consider risk then, consider God and what He says we have to gain via the risks we take. What does the Baptismal Covenant (BCP 304-305) or how we understand Human Nature (BCP 845) or Ministry (BCP 855) have to say about when and for what you take risks? Your new answers might surprise you. Here’s a good prayer for framing risk in the Christian Way and Life: Remember Christian Soul That today and every day you have God to glorify. Jesus to imitate. Salvation to work out with fear and trembling. A body to use rightly. Sins to repent. Virtues to acquire. Hell to avoid. Heaven to gain. Eternity to hold in mind. Time to profit by. Neighbors to serve. The world to enjoy. Creation to use rightly. Slights to endure patiently. Kindnesses to offer willingly. Justice to strive for. Temptations to overcome. Death perhaps to suffer. In all things, God’s love to sustain you. (Saint Augustine’s Prayer Book, Revised Edition, 2014, page xi) Image: the author’s dog, Shasa (2011- Easter Day 2020), jumps a cattle guard at the family ranch. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e7b91ebd189ac46cb02e0c4/1631127336275-WBIRWUVMNVBFPNEMOYTK/Christ+on+Mount+of+Olives.jpg Articles - In Response to What We Have Heard and Seen (March 2020) Let’s start with something I know: that our world is a little different of late. What other reason, then, for all this? I have faith that God is and that God loves, and part of that faith is this truth: God is not the storm. God created all that is, yes. He exists in the fine details of things, yes. But God did not—God does not—create out of anything but that of His own being, which is love. So even though bad things do happen—even though God is present at all times and in all places, even those that seem to cause us pain—God is not which caused it. He bears no blame. God is not the storm. Consider God’s doing! Who can straighten what He has twisted? So in a time of good fortune enjoy the good fortune; and in a time of misfortune, reflect: The one no less than the other was God’s doing; consequently, man may find no fault with Him (Ecclesiastes 7:13-14, JPH Tanakh Translation). He is not the storm, but God is in the response to the storm. And if God is in the response, then we should try to be there, too. And we can. Even in the most unlikely of times and places we can still be part of the response. We can be part of the response in our homes and even in isolation. How? Because even when we’re apart we’re still a community in Christ. Even when we’re apart we can take a moment to pray together for things beyond our knowing or understanding. This page is my seeking to follow where He leads in the midst of the current global pandemic, because in the midst of all the fear and anxiety I see a profound need for God and His Peace. And I intend to pray, God-willing, for that Peace here—with you. This page, in all its parts, is drawn out of my favorite prayer: In response to what we have heard and seen, what we know ourselves to be, and what we hope to become, let us pray: We thank you, God, for life— For giving us different ways of seeing all that we encounter, For allowing us to reflect upon, and in some measure, to find ourselves, For the joys and sorrows which bind us together, For all the things that make us know that “all this gift is pilgrimage.” And in this life, make us instruments of peace— By remembering that we must understand in order to be understood, By making forgiveness a permanent attitude, not merely an occasional act, By seeking to build a humanity that transcends all barriers, By living peace, not merely speaking of it. And on this day make us aware that we “Are part of all that we have met.” And give us strength to believe that “If our hands should meet in another dream, we shall build another tower in the sky.” Amen. Yes, the world is different of late, but God is still present. And when we seek Him, He will call us out from our fears and anxieties to Himself. This is His salvific promise in Christ. Image Credit: Rembrandt van Rijn. Christ on Mount of Olives. 1638-1639, ink and bister on paper. Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Flushing, New York.