Chad C. Ashby

Angry? Try Singing Together.

“Then I heard voices speak, entreating there The Lamb of God who takes our sins away For peace and mercy; this was all their prayer, For Agnus Dei did they still begin, So that one speech, one measure kept they all, And perfect concord seemed to fold them in. “Master,” said I, “these voices IContinue reading “Angry? Try Singing Together.”

Farewell to the Farm: A Personal Note

“My farm was a little too high up for growing coffee.” Karen Blixen (1885-1962) begins the chapter “Hard Times” with a statement of surrender. This unyielding truth had brought a life both foreign and familiar, beautiful and dangerous, wearisome yet rewarding to a punctilious end. Blixen’s memoir Out of Africa (1937) does not wrap upContinue reading “Farewell to the Farm: A Personal Note”

The Tabernacle Is a Parable

“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” –Hebrews 8:13 As Americans living in a consumer-driven society, we understand the author of Hebrews intuitively. Our culture thrives on making the old obsolete by speaking of the new. ItContinue reading “The Tabernacle Is a Parable”

Books Are Friends

“Books are remote but reliable friends.” -Victor Hugo “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). Books are that kind of friend. Books are always there, waiting to be opened, waiting to be read. A good book sticks closer than a brother.Continue reading “Books Are Friends”

The Problem with Audiobooks

Kids love audiobooks. Heck, parents love audiobooks! Our family has enjoyed listening to entertaining renditions of Mr. Popper’s Penguins and My Father’s Dragon on long car rides up the East coast. Many commuters have found audiobooks to be a handy way to redeem the time. Who can say no to a good audiobook? The Read-AloudContinue reading “The Problem with Audiobooks”

Ivan Ilych and the Middle-Class Avoidance of Death

“What do you want?” There are certain questions that cut straight to the core. Many of us go to great lengths to avoid such questions, filling the silence with noise, Netflix, friends, busyness, work. We cope with the uncomfortable seriousness of these eternal questions with humor and sarcasm. In the end, it’s avoidance. We don’tContinue reading “Ivan Ilych and the Middle-Class Avoidance of Death”

What Feels Like Suffering Is Your Salvation

There are many reasons we drift. Familiarity. Fatigue. Apathy. And pain. If you’ve had kids, you know that one way babies deal with pain is by drifting off to sleep. Sometimes, we deal with pain and suffering the same way. The author of Hebrews knows that. That’s why, when he’s addressing “those who are toContinue reading “What Feels Like Suffering Is Your Salvation”