A Journey to Eastern Christianity
The following is a talk which my departed grandmother invited me to give for her Sunday School class at First United Methodist Shreveport and which, due to some confusion, was given in its entirety to the wrong class. Because of that, I have never shared it until now. The talk zones in on Fr. Seraphim […]
Never too Old to be too Young
I grew up in a small country Southern Baptist Church in rural California. When my family moved there our family of six doubled the size of the church. But, the church did grow over the years. As a Teenager When I was in high school, our youth group was “thriving”- there were probably 8-12 of […]
Remolding Idols of Clay
I grew up in a Southern Baptist world filled with sacred tunes of both the vintage and contemporary variety. Ironically, the tune that has framed my spiritual experience more than any other stemmed not from a nineteenth-century revivalist hymn writer but from a soft rock band born in the synthesized seventies. Styx released “Show Me […]
This is my Creed: Christ with me
On the Louisiana College campus, there’s a carillon at the top of one of the buildings that plays awful bell arrangements of popular traditional hymns at certain times during the day. When I was a student there, I would go back and forth between loving and hating it, but one day as it played “All […]
The Religious White
Some of my earliest memories are filled with images of Pentecostal worship—from both above and beneath the pews, as I often slept under them during worship services. For most of my life, I’ve enjoyed preferred seating at local expressions of a world-wide spiritual movement known as Pentecostalism. My religious devotion first developed in Northeast Arkansas, […]
Am I Hispanic/ Latino/ Chicano?
Am I Hispanic? It seems like such a simple question. But, ethnic identity can be complicated these days. I’m 6’5″ with grey eyes and light skin. My mother was from the Appalachian hills in east Tennessee. That is not typically how one thinks of a Chicano. I don’t think I’ve ever had a person who […]
Remembering when…. 9/11
**This is a blog post that I wrote on an old blog site which I no longer maintain. I didn’t want to lose this record and decided to copy it here.** A question that is often asked around this time of year: Where were you on “9/11”? […]
The Problem and Blessing of Transparency
When I started Faith on View in 2011, I wrote on the About page that transparency is a core value of mine and this blog would seek to be transparent. That declaration has been there for eight years now. Honestly, I knew I was a little nervous about being transparent but I never knew how hard […]
Meant for Evil… and our Gracious “Just Enough” God
*This article is written collaboratively by both Rondall and Pamela. * “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalms 34:18) Those who follow this blog may have read the post, “A Birthday (and Holiday) Lamentation” written at the end of 2018. It was a difficult and personal post […]
A Triumph of Love
My last blog post, A Birthday (and Holiday) Lamentation, was a very personal exploration of some serious challenges in my life currently. It is a hard and sad post. Yet, there is hope. My wife, Pamela, two days after that article wrote what I thought was a beautiful post on Facebook: “Love Wins” is a […]