Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Living

Life is hard. And full. And awesome. Live it.

  • Coach Stands Against Bad Tradition

    •

    2 min read

    Jim Mora, Jr. is the new football coach at UCLA.  He doesn’t yet get to take charge, but in his first week there as an observer, he found the seniors engaging in a nearly 30 year-old tradition of skipping practice.  Mora’s response? “I’m not about making threats, and I’ll keep that between the players and…

    0

  • A New Call!

    •

    1 min read

    I’m pleased to announce that we have accepted the terms and I will become the Priest-in-Charge at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in St. Clair, Michigan! We will begin in January.  Thanks go out to all of those that have been praying for us over the past year.

    3

  • Parents: Crying It Out Is Not Best

    •

    4 min read

    As parents, we have all been there.  There has never been a child that G-d has given us that hasn’t cried for what feels like a little too long or at seemingly just the wrong time.  All parents have felt this stress. And every parent has lost it.  I remember a specific instance in which…

    4

  • Permissive vs. Supportive

    •

    4 min read

    I have noticed two ways of being community, having spent some time in the South, and most of my life in the North. And I describe these differences using two positive terms: permissive culture and supportive culture. Rather than break the differences down by political affiliation or in directly opposing terms as we are wont…

    1

  • Sometimes They Do Equal 5

    •

    3 min read

    I do think that sometimes 1+1=5.  That doesn’t make me crazy.  It means that we ought to account for our own blind spots.  To help me explain, I’ve recruited my own daughter. As you can see, she has written an interesting equation on the white board.  She is so proud of it, she wrote it…

    3

  • Occupy Government

    •

    1 min read

    First Amendment to the United States Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” With such a…

    0