Aaron Armstrong's Blog, page 7

How do writers get unstuck?

It happens to every writer eventually. We’ll be plugging away on a project for days or weeks, making varying degrees of progress. Ideas and sentences flow. Then we hit a wall, and try as we might, we can’t seem to get past it. We’re stuck. But how do we get unstuck? Is it just a matter of waiting it out, or can we take any steps to get back in the groove?

While every writer is different, here are four actions I’ve found that help me whenever I’m stuck and can’t seem to move forward.

Tak...

Aliens, Angels, Demons, and Are We Alone?

So. Aliens. Maybe. Maybe not? Depending on how inclined you are to pay attention to such things, you may have already tuned out. But in my house, this has been a topic of conversation since the congressional hearings on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) were held in July 2023.

What surprised me most was the person who initiated these conversations: my wife. This area is not in her typical area of interest. (Anything with an air of the speculative typically falls into my realm.) But someth...

What Comes After Post-Christianity?

I was not prepared for the culture shock I experienced in 2016. That was the year I moved from my home country—Canada—to the United States. But I didn’t just move to the United States. I moved to Tennessee. To the South.1

Flannery O’Connor, a Southern Gothic storyteller, describes the South as hardly being Christ-centered but “most certainly Christ-haunted.”2 There is less of a certainty or conviction that Christianity is true and more of a fear that it may be. Here, a thin veneer of religio...

Our limits are a gift from God

I admire people who know how to say no. More specifically, I admire people who recognize that they have limits. People who know that, as much as they might want to, they can’t do everything. Whether it’s attending social gatherings, taking on special projects, or anything else you can think of, they know their priorities, and their limitations.

So they count the cost and act in light of the cost. They plan accordingly. This is a wonderful gift. But even though it’s something I admire, it’s ...

Life is More than Mountaintop Experiences

If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you’re probably familiar with the mountaintop experience cliché. Inspired by Moses ascending the mountain at Sinai to meet with God (Exodus 19:3–25; 24:17–18), this concept is meant to describe a special awareness of God’s presence and love for us. A keener sense that he is with us than we might otherwise have.

I’m sure many of us have had this experience at one time or another. It is a good thing when we do. But we also need to be careful ...

A Question Can be an Act of Faith

I love the Psalms. I keep coming back to them. Some are continually stuck on repeat in my head and heart. One reason I love the Psalms because they are the most “human” part of the Bible. There is an earthiness to them that reminds us that helps us see that God cares about the entirety of the human experience. That includes those times when we wonder if God is listening. If he sees—or if he even cares. Those moments when we find ourselves asking, “God, where are you?”

Why Are We Afraid to A...

You Can’t Appease the Unreasonable

In 2023, I did something I’d been considering for a long time: I deleted the app formerly known as Twitter from my phone.1 I’d been a regular user since 2009. Back in the day, it was a great experience in part because you could have actual dialogue. Now, not so much. Dialogue has been replaced with factionalism. Where you could once meaningfully engage with people you might disagree with, it seems the expectation is that we’ll condemn one another instead.2

It’s all so unreasonable. I don’t ...

Protect yourself from cynicism

My church has been studying John’s Gospel together for more than a year now. And in that time, I’ve seen several reoccurring themes throughout its pages. And not just Jesus’ repeated declarations that he is, in fact, God. One of those is a repeated caution against cynicism.

What is cynicism?

To be cynical is to see people as being motivated primarily (or entirely) by self-interest. To be looking out for themselves ahead of all others. One of the many quotable lines in The Princess Bride t...

What are the best Bible study tools for beginners?

I remember the first time I started to study the Bible seriously. I was still a new-ish Christian. I’d been regularly reading my Bible and beginning to wrap my head around some parts while my confusion around others grew. (Which never changes, I’ve been assured.) But I wanted to go deeper. To learn more about books that made me extra-curious, like Daniel, Jude, and Revelation (because, of course).

I had my Bible. I was ready to go. But it didn’t take long before I realized I was in over my ...

Fear, failure, and the grace we need today

There are few people in the Bible I resonate with more than Peter. Throughout his story, he shows these amazing moments of insight—and often follows them up by sticking his foot in his mouth. Peter is, in many ways, a failure. One just like us.

Peter is a human being, prone to fear and anxiety. Who lacks understanding or thinks he knows better than he does—who lives out of his assumptions about what God is doing, or should do. And when his assumptions are challenged, when his understanding ...