McGrath Institute Blog

Friends in college would immediately identify me as an artist. I created visual art until 2010, then drifted from it without class assignments and trajectory. At this same time God guided me toward professional ministry, a path that has been filled with consolations. As I lived into this, I found vitality in studying theology and the wells of its richness. This study and living theology became the new way I identified myself and was identified by others. Usually around wintertime, I experienced a very convincing urge to continue formal study, which would catch me in a confusing circle of discernment. Each time, I was excited and convicted of the nudge for a short while, but as I immersed myself in the thought of further education, something held me back and it would wear away.

Editorial Note: This review contains spoilers.

Never having been one to buy into the hype of successful car-racing movies like The Fast and Furious franchise, I had serious doubts about Ford v Ferrari. If this movie was anything like others in the genre, with gratuitous fiery explosions and endless action scenes to compensate for a lackluster plot-line, my $13 would be better spent seeing Little Women for the third time.

Ford v Ferrari does include several fiery explosions. And much of the action-packed movie takes place at the Le Mans race track. But director James Mangold’s captivating retelling of this particular historical event held me in rapt attention for the full 2 hours and 32 minutes.

Editorial Note: This month, we want to hold up women working in the Church whose dedication to ministry and service of God and neighbor is nothing short of inspiring. We hope you'll be inspired by their stories too.

Thirty years ago, we stood with Ray Kinsella in an Iowa cornfield, where we heard a voice say for the first time, “If you build it, he will come.” Hailed by sports and cinema enthusiasts alike as one of the greatest baseball movies of all time, Field of Dreams has consistently moved audiences precisely because it’s about so much more than baseball. It’s about hearing, accepting, and sharing a call. It’s about perseverance in uncertainty and adversity. But more than anything, it’s about reconciliation.

Whether we realize it or not, every time we bless ourselves “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of Holy Spirit” (or “in-name-of-father-son-holy-spirit-amen” if we’re trying to eat dinner quickly), we are not only making a prayer to God, but we are recalling our baptism.