tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60947719356536245262012-02-22T17:05:59.304-06:00This is a blog about the infinite space between who I am and who I want to be.Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.comBlogger221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-66394040378117276332012-02-18T01:05:00.000-06:002012-02-18T01:05:03.858-06:00

It's late, I'm tired, and pretty out of it, but it has been too long since I've written and my folks are coming for a visit tomorrow, so I know if I don't knock this out now, it will never happen, so here goes: I went to the same church for the first 18 years of my life, and there was one overriding theme that seemed to run through every sermon & every Bible study. And it wasn't the Gospel.

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-30047070413845416282012-01-26T14:23:00.001-06:002012-01-26T14:27:21.554-06:00

I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian environment, so I have a rather peculiar relationship with fundamentalism.  I think it's similar to the relationship I had with my brothers growing up.  There were times we were thick as thieves and times where we wanted to (and often tried to) murder each other.  There was one interesting dynamic in the relationship, though, that always persisted,

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-6443528433045101272012-01-20T15:29:00.001-06:002012-01-27T12:15:00.268-06:00

I never thought I had much of a story to tell, or that my story mattered much to anyone else.  As I've begun to tell parts of it though, here and recently at the "Something Beautiful" podcast as well, the reaction I've seen has been, well, surprising to say the least.  The level of engagement I've seen has made me realize one simple fact: we never know when our story is exactly what someone else

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-72492459627998784652012-01-11T11:48:00.002-06:002012-01-27T12:13:37.712-06:00

There is a kind of survivor's guilt that you expect to encounter when you survive through a war (or two).  It's the kind of guilt that says, "Why did that person die and I didn't?" or "Why am I still here and they're not?"  It's an almost universal experience amongst other veterans that I've spent time with.  I had a healthy dose of it myself.  There were at least three times in Iraq in '04 where

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-82677161169753108042012-01-06T16:19:00.002-06:002012-01-12T09:59:44.159-06:00

Yes, this is a year-in-review post...kind of.  If you're already tired of 2011 retrospectives (I don't blame you), but I promise you, this one's different.  It's not a list, or a compendium of likes and dislikes, but a story (but it does have a theme song). There are a lot of reasons why last year was important.  We moved back to the midwest, had another beautiful baby boy, bought a new house,

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-29013341266467013532012-01-04T11:56:00.000-06:002012-01-04T11:56:57.872-06:00

To our mothers, our sisters, our wives and our daughters: Forgive us for not speaking up, speaking out, and speaking life. Forgive us for keeping you down, keeping you captive, and keeping you silent. Forgive us for defining you by your bodies. Forgive us for turning you into commodities. Forgive us for trading in your dignity for our pleasure and profit. Forgive us for ignoring the injustice

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-34054978425706206342011-12-17T23:24:00.001-06:002012-01-05T13:25:25.775-06:00

Admin note: This was going to be titled "On Finding God in a Hardcore Show" but I thought that might draw the wrong audience.  :) I find God in places many might consider...unorthodox. When I was 18 years old, I found God in a tent in the middle of an oppressively hot July evening on a pig farm in Bushnell, IL.  It was Cornerstone 2000, and the tent housed the stage where one of my favorite

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-73015895614822721072011-12-07T10:57:00.002-06:002012-01-05T13:25:58.172-06:00

This is a short one, because I don't want to come off as a cranky old curmudgeon, but be warned, it is a rant. //Rant Initiated It's not because I doubt that I don't feel safe in church, it's because I fear how the church will react to my sincere doubt and honest questioning. I have been called a skeptic, cynic, heretic, rabblerouser (my personal favorite) and all kinds of other names.  I

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-89839870461638745182011-12-01T12:40:00.001-06:002011-12-07T10:58:02.649-06:00

My head and heart have been heavy lately, but instead of dumping all of that on the four of you, I thought I'd lighten things up a bit and give you a little glimpse into my life. My son Ethan  is 2 and loves to dance.  I mean, this kid LOVES to dance.  Here he is getting down to Jonsi's "Go Do" the other night. What he loves even more is when I dance with him.  The shrieks of joy, the smiles,

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-42663819922168704732011-11-18T16:39:00.008-06:002011-12-01T12:41:56.137-06:00

There is a constant stream of ineffable prose running through my head.  It is a feeling, an emotional response, a stirring in the deepest places of my heart that connects it profoundly to the beauty in the world around me. There are volumes of poetry that will never be written and songs that will never be sung, as the words just never come.  In moments of inspiration, when it seems that I might

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-34397224624474951352011-11-11T01:19:00.001-06:002011-12-01T12:41:23.970-06:00

In the name of those few of us veterans who have realized our folly, and have turned to seek peace instead: I am a veteran. Please don't thank me for my service. It only serves to remind me of the irreparable harm I have done in the name of a fiction.  I have taken life in the name of catharsis, destroyed families in the name of revenge, and laid waste to nations in the name of a false

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-91600774084000230942011-11-02T15:03:00.001-05:002011-11-11T01:35:07.547-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about property, asking the question whether or not Christians own anything.  I came to some conclusions in the writing of that post that have been, to say the least, challenging.  The TLDR version of it is this: Any meaningful definition of Christianity is at odds with traditional definitions of property and ownership.  Thus, we must deny the validity of (A) our

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-64137617046996050992011-10-21T15:56:00.002-05:002011-11-04T20:00:31.201-05:00

Admin note: the first time I wrote this, it was so ridiculously long, I decided to split it into two pieces (both of which are only slightly less ridiculously long).  This one addresses the philosophical issues surrounding Christians and property, and the next post will address the pragmatics.  Just promise me that if you read one you'll read them both.  Deal?  Deal.  (edit - the second part is

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-45210036184047998622011-10-12T00:19:00.001-05:002011-10-21T15:57:01.896-05:00

First, some housekeeping.  Special thanks to Rachel Held Evans (who blogs here) and Alise Wright (who blogs here) for driving an absurd amount of traffic to my last post. So, it's been a couple of weeks since I've written here, and I promise, I have a good excuse...and that excuse is right here: Asher Jeremiah Harms was born on September 27th, so cut me some slack.  :) Now it's after midnight

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-47391429927931071922011-09-26T14:19:00.000-05:002011-09-26T14:19:12.369-05:00

Warning up front.  This is long-ish.  Sorry, but I'm passionate about this, and it's not a topic that lends itself to brevity. So, how fitting.  My last post talks about having grace for Christians, and on Saturday, @JesusNeedsNewPR brought my attention to a piece by Mark Driscoll on Poverty Theology.  Pastor Mark and I have a history.  Some of his offhanded comments about gender were what 

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-62403988604707877662011-09-22T15:17:00.001-05:002011-09-26T14:00:10.184-05:00

Grace is a radical thing.  It upends my perceptions, changes my priorities, and challenges my assumptions.  Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you: these are not commands that mesh well with my sense of entitlement. Then I read the stories of Troy Davis and Ross Byrd, two men whose lives serve as testimonies to this radical grace.  Troy Davis' last words were a prayer for mercy

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-9712549900767063962011-09-16T16:09:00.000-05:002011-09-16T16:09:46.617-05:00

So @WritingJoy who writes at the appropriately named Joy in this Journey (which you should read, because it is an incredible and honest story of love, grace, and joy in the midst of the messiness of life and grief) asked the twitterverse to be honest about their weaknesses in her #lifeunmaksed series.  The posts that resulted were both devastatingly honest and incredibly inspiring, but I did

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-58692838013529488722011-09-14T12:54:00.002-05:002011-09-14T13:29:07.116-05:00

I wrote this as a response to a question posed on a freind's blog, but I thought I would share it with all 3 of you as well.  It might come off as a little bit overly-analytical (especially compared to my usual writing style), and I'm going to get all philosophical on you, but stay with it, and I think you'll get where I'm coming from. The fundamental problem in the choice to join up with a

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-72869292011987885482011-09-11T14:00:00.001-05:002011-09-14T13:46:22.026-05:00

10 years ago I was sleeping off a late night when my good friend called me and told me the news 9 years ago I joined the Army 5 years ago I made my first trip to Afghanistan 3 years ago I was supporting some of the most highly-trained killers in the world, and quite good at it. Today I am in need of Grace just as in those days, as I struggle to reconcile what I've done, what I've seen, and where

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-90083137526631168452011-09-08T12:50:00.004-05:002011-09-15T10:36:57.706-05:00

If you haven't noticed, the theme of this blog is tension.  What could be more tense than a discussion about politics the day ofter a room full of apparently blood-thirsty Republicans cheered when Brian Williams announced how many executions Rick Perry had overseen?  But don't fret, I'm an equal opportunity critic. I'll likely piss everyone off equally before this post is over.  My journey

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-25372701307043073622011-09-02T14:09:00.003-05:002011-09-14T14:01:27.446-05:00

It's introspection time. How have I, a follower of a 1st century Jewish Rabbi (and His mouthpiece in my current cultural context), faired in being salt and light?  Have I distinguished myself from the culture in such a way that I am living out His two simple commands to love God and love others?  Honestly, I would say, for the first 29 years of my life, I did a pretty poor job, but I'm alive,

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094771935653624526.post-32539435348480313712011-08-30T09:19:00.001-05:002011-08-30T10:31:48.299-05:00

There were a few specific situations over the past couple of weeks that have served to help cure the cement of my hatred of the archetypal American Male.  The first two situations are less personal.  First off, (if you know me at all, you might have guessed it) was one of my favorite bloggers, John Jensen, laying the proverbial (but loving, of course) smack down on the often thick-headed gender

Luke Harmshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472274706595968853noreply@blogger.com4