Jason Locke's Blog

Cork, Ireland was far more interesting than I’d imagined. I only had two real expectations when we visited Ireland in 1997. First, I expected to see beautiful, green pastures with medieval ruins and countless sheep scattered across rolling hills and coastal cliffs. Second, I hoped to feel and taste the atmosphere in village pubs brought to life with bands and bards singing ancient tunes amidst a non-stop flow of Irish stout served up in pints. Our week in Ireland certainly provided all that and more. What I didn’t expect, however, was to have a meaningful church experience during our journey. Just like in Prince Edward Island , Churches of Christ of the American Restoration Movement have no real presence in the Republic of Ireland. Well, I mean that we have no presence outside the capital city of Dublin. And even that is an infinitesimally small work in the midst of a large city. So basically, we didn’t plan to cross paths with any CofC friends. On our only weekend on the ...

Prince Edward Island was the last place I expected to have a moving church experience. Rewind to 2007. With our elementary-age boys in tow, we made the 1200-mile drive from Morgantown, West Virginia to Canada, to Cavendish on the north shore of Prince Edward Island. We loaded up the Olds Silhouette (the Cadillac of minivans) and went northeast toward the Atlantic Provinces for a little summer getaway. I can’t quite recall why we picked PEI. It had nothing to do with Anne of Green Gables—books that neither Julie, our boys nor I had ever read. We have no family up that way and no childhood memories of a trip we were trying to relive. It just seemed like a fun vacation spot. It wasn’t the boring slog of a drive that you might expect. On the journey north, we stopped in Boston for the obligatory tour of Paul Revere’s house and the Old North Church—along with a nonstop stream of Dunkin Donuts. The fireworks extravaganza for the Fourth topped it all off on the banks of the Charles Rive...

It’s hard to know what a healthy person looks like these days. Take Angelina Jolie for example. For many people, she is the picture of good health. Some tabloids occasionally accused her of being too thin. But most folks idolized her “healthy body.” How little they knew! She has a genetic predisposition that almost guarantees breast cancer. Her mother died at age 56 from breast cancer. He aunt just died from the disease. With this scary prognostication in hand, Angelina Jolie did something incredibly shocking. She underwent preemptive mastectomies. Next, she’ll have reconstructive surgery and then have her ovaries taken out for good measure. Talk about a radical cure for a disease she didn’t even have! She knew, however, that her apparent good health was not the complete story. So who is healthy? And how do we know what good health actually looks like? Here’s one obvious conclusion:              ...