Mediocre Meanderings has long been a title I thought I would use if I ever started a blog. My intention is to share my thoughts, impressions, musings, poetry, and whatever else comes to mind.
I was recently informed of the death of three friends. I felt a sting and pondered. Disquieting. Uncomfortable. Once they were and no longer are. A lot to consider. Out spilled the following. The stinger will come for us all.
Stinger, Beam Me Up!
Dead and gone.
Gone and alive.
More alive that formerly.
Never to die again.
Not to be seen again on this side.
Reunited at some point.
Better life?
Won’t have to ask.
Will know by experience.
Sting is on this side.
Heaven better than epi-pen.
I wonder if those in heaven regret having lived so long on this side.
Sting me up, if that be the case.
Looking for Scotty. Nothing grim about that crew member.
I am Richard Brewer—a Christ-follower, psychologist, husband, father, grandfather (Papa) sometimes writer, and lifelong student of people.
For much of my professional life, I've had the privilege of sitting with people as they wrestle with some of life's most difficult questions—questions about faith, suffering, grief, relationships, identity, failure, hope, and what it means to live well.
Those conversations have changed the way I see people and the way I understand my own faith. They have taught me that life is rarely as simple as our explanations of it, that people are almost always more complicated than they appear, and that sometimes the wisest response to a difficult question is to empathize and to keep asking better questions.
I am a committed Christ-follower, but I am not interested in pretending that Christianity eliminates mystery or that faith means having an answer for everything. Faith invites us to pursue truth honestly, to think deeply, to acknowledge what we do not know, and ultimately to trust the God we do know.
Mediocre Meanderings is where I explore some of those questions.
I write about faith and psychology, grief and suffering, leadership and relationships, aging and ordinary life—and occasionally whatever else catches my attention along the way.
I do not write from the perspective of someone who has figured life out. I write as someone who has lived enough of it to know that I have not.
These are my thoughts, questions, observations, and occasional attempts at wisdom. Take what is useful. Challenge what is not. And, if you would like, meander along with me.
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