Author Archives: KevenWinder

About KevenWinder

I'm bi-vocational working in biotech and also serving as an online pastor, author, and un-coach. I'm an avid mountain biker and live in Colorado.

186- Happy Suffering

“What is your solution to the suffering in the world?”

Most people recognize the enormity of suffering and feel as though they are too small to make a difference. Thus we look to governments, religions or scientific fixes that might be big enough to eliminate suffering. 

What if suffering has a purpose? What if there was a way to deal with suffering that didn’t avoid it, but transformed it into something beautiful?  Join me now as we see beyond the beatitudes into exactly what it means to experience happy suffering.

185-Blessing evokes gag reflex…

“What is your response when someone says they are “blessed?”

For many modern people, we are triggered by this phrase. I think it’s because our culture has made blessed synonymous with material gain or prosperous living. It’s actually the sub-plot that says, “God is on my side, not yours.” that makes us so disturbed.

In today’s podcast and post I examine what it really means to be blessed and expose how far off the trail we’ve gone. The beatitudes are not eight tips for living better than everyone else, but the required lens through which we can discover not only the paradox of wisdom, but the humility to see our self in the lives of everyone else.

184- Awesome Beige Minivan said no one ever…

“What can words do for the state of our world now?” Aren’t we beyond rhetoric and “Thoughts and prayers?”

Our world’s attention span is shortening. We have less interest and tolerance for big transforming ideas. Sound bites and instantaneous answers have eroded that part of us where big questions were once carried deep within our hearts. It’s the automotive equivalent of car makers producing beige minivans. Our thirst for practicality has displaced the drive that once inspired us.

In today’s podcast and post, I begin a series that for many is so played out and tired that few may even have the resolve to look deeper. Join me now as we begin to see beyond the sermon on the mount and recapture just how disruptive a big idea can be.

183- The First…

“Is your soul in need of some care?”

If we never attended to the hair on our heads, over time we would possess a giant mess of disorganization that could become harmful to our health and well-being. Our soul (psuché/ true inner self) functions in a similar manner. We must tend to it, or comb it through if we are to bring order out from internal chaos.

Join me now as we begin a series that will be interlaced over time (not all at once) as we examine the Pslams greatest hits. This time of “combing” will serve us by bringing order out of the chaos that emerges within the deepest part of our being. May this series allow us to see beyond everything.

182- Redshift Cosmology

Same question again this week: “Have you ever had a satisfactory answer to the question of why each religion think it’s better than the others?

Last week’s post burst a few wineskins leaving many of you with more questions than answers. So in this week’s post and podcast we explore what Cynthia Bourgeault calls the San Andreas Fault in the Country of the Heart.

Join me now as we begin to see what has been invisible for so many people for centuries, namely that this faultline creates a rupture in everything we thought we understood about spirituality, faith and religion, allowing us to see beyond everything.

181- Your Monotheism may actually be Atheism

“Have you ever had a satisfactory answer to the question of why each religion think it’s better than the others?

How many millennia will we go on arguing about whose god can beat up another god?  This framework is typified in the story of Elijah and Baal, but I believe we missed the point entirely.  It started by Elijah asking the same question I just did: “How long will you go on limping between two opinions?”

In today’s podcast, I will not answer this question by suggesting that all religions are basically saying the same thing, rather I will argue that they are all missing the same thing. Join me now as see beyond what we think is a monotheistic believe and I reveal how it is simply a modified atheism.

180- The Sunrise of Your Life

The Sunrise of Your Life

“What has Easter become for you?”

Is Easter just another holiday that has been stripped of its meaning? Is it a sacred day of the year where we must pay special attention and make a bit more effort toward our spiritual walk? What if both of these extremes miss the point?

In today’s podcast and post we pull back and reframe Easter in a way that allows all comers to access it’s beauty and transforming power. Join me now as we see beyond the conversion to a religion, and into an inner awakening to the Sunrise of our life.

179- When our Focus IS the Distraction

“What is your biggest distraction?”

Most of us intuitively view distractions as derailments. They are a shift of focus from a more import object to a less important object. I think we all get this at a basic level. 

In today’s podcast and post I will take us deeper beyond the objects of distraction, and show why changing our focus doesn’t always solve the problem.

Join me now as we learn to see beyond the objects of our distraction and gain a glimpse of the single subject that exists just below the surface of everything.

178 -Galatians Q&A

“Are you curious about the questions that have come in through this series?”

Last week we concluded a 13 week series on the book of Galatians and over the course I have fielded a number of really great questions. Today, I thought I’d share the most common and or most interesting questions that came up.

Join me now as we review the questions from our virtual community. Perhaps someone asked your question and we can all learn together how to see beyond everything.

177-Closing Remarks

 

“How should the church respond to Paul’s letter to the Galatians?”

Today we conclude a thirteen-week study of the book of Galatians. Paul was clearly not reinventing another religion but preserving the integrity of the gospel message which not only liberates all people from institutional powers, but from frees us from the inside out. By ridding us of external and internal pressures that are trying to define and derail our lives, Paul is showing all people the path to personal freedom.

Join me now as we see beyond the lens of modern evangelical Christianity and see Paul’s message for what it really was, a free-flowing charter on how to live, and find your true self transparently grounded in God.