About Me

I’m a senior English major at Abilene Christian University graduating in May 2012. In August 2012, I will begin graduate work at ACU, working towards a Master’s in English with a concentration in Composition and Rhetoric. Eventually, I hope to get a PhD. I hope to teach, research, and write so as to further the work of social justice. Rhetoric is a means by which those in power stay that way. The symbols, signs, and words by which the dominant group maintains its power are, therefore, of tremendous interest to those wishing to fight for a more equal and just society. The study of rhetoric, therefore, can be subversive. It can, in fact, provide the tools by which injustice is named, justice is proclaimed, and the powerful are brought low.

I’m a skeptic by nature, a critic by trade, a know-it-all by all accounts, and a broken vessel in need of grace. In Christ I have been set free from lust, pride, self-righteous judgmentalism, arrogance, consumerism, racism, colonialism, and maintenance of systems of oppression that benefit me—a white, straight, educated, middle-class, Christian male—in our society.

There is a story that orients my life, it is the story God is telling about his people, of whom I am a part. It is the story of the redemption of all creation from sin and darkness into light and life by the death of Jesus Christ, the son of God, on a Roman cross and his subsequent resurrection. What God has done for Jesus in the middle of history, he will do for all at the end of history: new life. I am a character in the Theo-Drama, a part of the meta-narrative of God. I want to love other people more than I love myself. I want to get to know other people on their terms and for their sake, not mine. I trust in the author(ity) of God. When this story is over, it will have been resolved to the good of the characters in the story—proclaiming God’s creative genius and infinite glory.

There is an ache in my bones, a longing in my heart, a plea in my mind, and a cry on my lips for the rapid return of Christ to make all things new. That is my one hope—that Christ shall return to establish his Kingdom fully. And, when he does, all things that are wrong will be righted and—as it was in the beginning so too will it be forever, world without end—Divinity and humanity will dwell in perfect harmony together in the garden of His creation.

Until that day, “I will long for Kingdom come, look for places it is already established, and labor for it to break in now.” (Taken from Nathan Chud)