Get in the Mud
He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Mud brings up images of lawns and parks after heavy rainfall, dogs hastily scrubbed with towels, footwear being rinsed with a hose and scrapped on mats. Growing up, mud was to me more of a nuisance than a…
Being “John”
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You’re Not Alone
Unlike Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, I have very little experience with being on a mountain. Between these three figures, there have been a multitude of encounters set on mountains: from Sinai to Horeb, Carmel to Calvary, Tabor to Hermon. As for me, there’s just one—Mount Pilatus. In the summer after my sophomore year of high school,…
Amazed and Afraid
Throughout the summer between third and fourth grade, my parents and I would go to our neighborhood trail once or twice a week and spend an hour helping me learn to ride a bike. They would always be there to accompany me, ensuring that I had my helmet, knee pads, and shoulder pads on, and that…
Doubt Like Thomas
At my elementary school, we had an assembly every semester where awards were handed out for stuff like Good Citizenship, Public Speaking, and—of course—Class Clown. I’d gotten a few awards like Budding Artist and Perfect Attendance before, but they seemed pretty trivial compared to what I really wanted: to be on the Honor Roll—a mark…
The One We Seek
It seems rather odd, at least to me, that Jesus asks a rhetorical question—one that, he above everyone else—knows the answer to: Whom are you looking for?1 Jesus asks this to Judas, the Roman soldiers, and the Chief Priests’ guards who came in the midst of his prayer and the disciples’ slumber so that he…
The Will to Ask
Words can themselves be magical in the sense that they exhibit power in the sense that both possess the ability to compel, receive, and affirm. Remember to say the magic words—“please” and “thank you.” But tied to their power is the power of asking—of requesting, petitioning, and appealing. To ask is to desire for something…
Faith is More
Have faith in yourself. I have faith in you. Because you’ve gotta have faith. Faith, trust, and pixie dust. For many, faith is nearly-synonymous with religion—a defined set of teachings and practices tied to particular texts, figures, regions, and historical developments. No one is to blame for this, for the assumption that faith is strictly…
Who Am I?
The earliest memory I have of using a computer was back in kindergarten. Positioned across a long table in my school’s computer lab were boxy desktops spread equally apart, each with their own set of headphones, keyboard, mice, and a colorful mousepad. Among the websites we were first introduced to was Starfall—a site geared to…
Play With Sims, Play With Life
Eat. Work. Sleep. Repeat. When framed like this, life seems monotonous at best and dreadful at worst. But in reality, life is far, far more complicated, chaotic, and busy than that distillation. It’s the things in between—impromptu hangouts chance encounters, deep conversations, and leisurely activities—that give life its flavor, although sometimes it can taste more…
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John Lee Wagas 