Author: Jeff Hendricks

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ADHD and Spirituality, Part 3

You may remember the piece I wrote a while back about ADHD and Faith. Or maybe the one about Spirituality and Mental Disorders.

Have you ever wanted to be able to do something, but weren’t able to mentally do it? Have you ever wondered “If ADHD, or depression is a mental disorder, how does that affect my ability to ‘take every thought captive to be obedient in Christ’?”

How can I “take every thought captive” when my frontal cortex is dysfunctional? Some people will ask “Do you believe God wants you to be focused?” Well, I would hope so… but I also believe God doesn’t want people to die from cancer. And yet it still happens.

“People don’t choose to get sick!” you might say, and you’re right. But I didn’t choose to have ADHD either. I mean, it’s all I’ve ever known, but at no point did anyone ask me if that’s what I wanted.

Furthermore, what I believe about God’s character doesn’t seem to affect my ADHD in any way, as far as I know.  But does my mental “disability” affect my spiritual walk? And if so, how can I know? How can I tell if I’m just spiritually apathetic, or if it’s just my brain refusing to work the way I want it to?

Is there any hope for Christians with ADHD? Continue reading “ADHD and Spirituality, Part 3”

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Who’s In Control?

Over the last three years, I’ve come to realize that we’re not in control of much of anything.

“I’m in control of my own destiny!” you exclaim defiantly. “I only do what I want to do!”

But that’s only partially true. One could argue that nobody can force you to do anything, but that’s not true either. They can make your life miserable to the point where you’ll do anything to make it stop. (Side note: this is called torture.)

I’m not talking about Free Will or The Matrix- I’m talking about autonomy.

How much of what we do is “allowed” and how much of it is “free?” If you’re in control of your own actions, but have to change or limit what you do under threat of force, are you really free? Continue reading “Who’s In Control?”

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Optimism, Pessimism, Indifference, and Realism

Over the last few years, I’ve witnessed a massive exodus from liberal-controlled social media platforms. These digital refugees have but one singular, but inexcusable common crime: Their perception of reality is still functional.

Indeed, it is true- entire empires of news media have been erected, based on misinformation and lies. Mental illnesses cause people to pretend they are opposite genders, or even a different species of animal, and they are encouraged and applauded as “brave.” The very basic foundation of science and reasoning has become popular opinion, not objective facts. Religion has been twisted into a disgusting caricature of itself, becoming a faint ghost of its former self- impotent to save anyone from anything.

The situation we are in is appalling. But there is much confusion amongst the masses: should we be excited, or outraged, or indifferent? What does the future hold? What is actually important? Continue reading “Optimism, Pessimism, Indifference, and Realism”

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The Zen and Creativity of Lego

Believe it or not, this post isn’t going to be about Lego bricks.

I rewind back 35 years and remember building with Lego. The interesting and creative thing about Lego bricks is that they were just basic shapes, but you could assemble them in any way you wanted- sometimes in ways they weren’t intended. But the only limit to what you could build is how many bricks you had, and your imagination.

Today, there are every kind of Lego kit, with all kinds of special pieces, decals, and instructions. You don’t need any creativity to buy a Harry Potter or Star Wars Lego kit and assemble it. It just requires following instructions, and patience.

In the modern “Creative World” there are tons of people cranking out content, but there are precious few people that understand how building blocks of creativity work.

Let me explain:

Music, as we know it today, is made up of building blocks. There are certain fundamental parts to a song that you can assemble different ways, but in the end, they’re what makes something a song. Things like tempo, time signature, instrumentation, key, melody, lyrics, and such are uniquely identifiable parts of a song, but don’t make a song by themselves.

Writing is much the same way. If you’re writing a fiction story, say a sci-fi novel, there are certain things it’s going to have in it. Dialogue, main characters, secondary characters, plot, setting, and so forth. You can change out any of these elements and it becomes a different story- but it’s still recognizable as a story.

If you examine any one of these building blocks by itself, it doesn’t make up a complete work. But they’re necessary to make the whole. Continue reading “The Zen and Creativity of Lego”

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Passion or Practicality?

As a Creative, the phrase “Follow your passion!” is both really good, and really horrible advice. Most of the things we’re passionate about are not money-making ideas, because most creatives aren’t passionate about money- we care about art, music, literature, and improving people’s lives in aesthetic ways. This severely limits what we have the resources to do.

The flip side to this, “just give people what they want” and “if it makes money, it’s good” are components of what’s called Pragmatism. Record companies are notorious for this, as are large publishing houses. They make vapid pop music, because vapid pop music is what sells. “If it makes money, how bad could it be?”

Well, if you’re the artist trying to make their vision become reality, it could be disastrous. Continue reading “Passion or Practicality?”

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What Is Church?

I recently read through the book “Pagan Christianity?” and was struck by how much of what we call “modern church” is actually borrowed from ancient non-church traditions, including sermons, clergy, and (you guessed it) modern worship music.

“Does that mean we shouldn’t sing worship songs?” No, that’s not what it means.

What it illustrates is the fact that we are so removed from our traditions, we don’t even question why we (the church) do what we do. Pragmatism abounds, and popularity seems to be the dominant requirement for whether or not a church does something.

Jesus wasn’t popular. Continue reading “What Is Church?”

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Is There Really Hope?

Recently, I was privy to a conversation about the rising economic and political crisis between the United States and everyone else, and it got me thinking.

Can we really be hopeful in today’s society? A lot of evidence points to everything in this world inevitably falling apart. But do we, as Christians, really have to worry about it?

Well, yes and no.

A friend of mine used to say “Some people are so heavenly minded, they’re of no earthly good.” What I think he meant by this is that people can focus so intently on being Godly (and looking towards Heaven) that they can’t be bothered with practical, day-to-day issues. If you tell someone “I’m really struggling right now with this issue” and the only answer they ever give you is “You just need Jesus!” that’s not actually helpful at all. Yes, in the greater sense, we all need Jesus… but I need practical help with a practical problem right now, and praying isn’t going to miraculously fix my hurting back, or my relationship problems, or fill my car’s gas tank.

The Truth

We live in a very broken, sinful world. There’s nothing we can do that will change that. We suffer and groan under the weight of imperfect mortality, and all the pain and joy that comes along with that. Just praying for something doesn’t automatically make it happen. According to the Bible, people since the Garden of Eden are not inherently good. And we live in a society that reflects that. Continue reading “Is There Really Hope?”

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Practice What You Preach

If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you probably know that I am very enamored with Minimalism, especially Tech Minimalism.

I have several reasons for this, but mainly it comes down to Privacy, and Mental Clutter.

If I preach against Big Tech, but I’m still using their platforms, does that make me a hypocrite? Yeah, kind of.

Problem is, how do you get out of it once you’re in? And I’m here to tell you, it isn’t easy- by design. Continue reading “Practice What You Preach”

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Purpose Redux

Over the last week, I’ve been examining my Core Values, and let me tell you, it’s been harder than I expected it to be. You might think “What’s so hard about writing down what you value?” Well, give it a try, and see for yourself.

Ultimately, it boils down to what things drive your decisions and relationships, and whether or not your daily actions line up with where you want to go, and who you want to be.

As I wrote about previously, it’s easy to get caught up in feeling like your worth is tied into what you can do. But sometimes that’s out of your control, so why should you feel inferior for not being able to do something you had no control over? Continue reading “Purpose Redux”