“The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must endure; the deeper our hope, the more prone we are to despair; the deeper our love, the more pain its loss will bring: these are a few of the paradoxes we must hold as human beings. If we refuse to hold them in the hopes of living without doubt, despair, and pain, we also find ourselves living without faith, hope, and love.”
Another super slick feature of Micro.blog? When you host your podcast there, it creates an autoMAGIC transcript!
Thursdays have become one of my favorite days of the week. I spend them in a town where I get to be present with a group of people who graciously allow me to serve as their unofficial pastor. On top of that, I get to commute with Amy!
I am currently reading: Dominion by Tom Holland 📚
Spent some with this one today. Seeing the influence of Christianity, the good and the bad is so helpful to hold a nuanced understanding of the development of Western Civilization.
I started reading: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson 📚
I grabbed the audio book and I’m thoroughly enjoying it! It has dashes of Disc World vibes with Sanderson’s warmth.
Most of spiritual growth happens where no one is watching.
In this episode, we explore how God forms us through small, ordinary acts of obedience — the quiet prayers, unseen sacrifices, daily choices to forgive, to show up, to remain steady. The Christian life is less about dramatic breakthroughs and more about faithful rhythms.
The question beneath it all: What if the “small things” are actually the main things?
In this episode:
Why hidden faithfulness matters
How ordinary obedience shapes lasting character
The connection between daily rhythms and spiritual endurance
Spiritual fitness is formed slowly, faithfully, and often invisibly.
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You can find more long-form reflections at danielmrose.com
To listen to the full unabridged message: The Scandal fo Generous Grace
As we begin the season of Lent, we enter a specific rhythm in the Christian calendar. It is a season of lament—a time to acknowledge that the world we inhabit is imperfect. It is often sad, hard, and weary. It is a world in desperate need of resurrection.
The beauty of Lent is that it points us toward Easter. We know that in a few weeks, we will celebrate the moment history was transformed by the resurrection of Christ. But we shouldn’t rush there. As Westerners, our culture encourages us to skip the “hard” and jump straight to the “fun.” But this season, we aren’t going to skip the hardness. We are going to work through it together by looking at the parables of Jesus.
Fun night out! Dinner ar Miller’s in Dearborn followed by hanging out at Calihan Hall to see our guy Tater-Tot.
I started reading: The Strength of the Few by James Islington 📚
Diving in to the second hierarchy series tale.
Finished reading: The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson 📚
Such a fun read! It was great to see what happened with one of my favorite characters from Stormlight Archives.
Next up: The Strength of the Few, book 2 of the Hierarchy series.
Finished reading: The Lost Metal: A Mistborn Novel (Mistborn, 7) by Brandon Sanderson 📚
I can totally picture how this series will be serialized and I am so excited for it to hit Apple TV.
Do you ever bump into a quote that just resonates for you? I bumped into this one by David Foster Wallace today and it did just that today:
“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.” - David Foster Wallace
The pain of death is real. Ash Wednesday is a reminder of that truth.
I long for this day…
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’”
The stark reality of Ash Wednesday weighs a bit heavier today.
My new podcast is publishing on multiple platforms. You might be encouraged by it. You might not be. Maybe give it a shot…
