The Eudaimonia Blog

". . . if we follow the traces of our own actions to their source, they intimate some understanding of the good life." -Matthew B. Crawford, motorcycle mechanic and academic

  • The Radical Transcultural Diversity of Christianity

    Christianity Today recently named Christopher Watkin’s Biblical Critical Theory its book of the year. A men’s group I am a part of began studying Watkin’s book back in May and this Saturday we complete the final chapter, which has been quite the accomplishment as it is a 650+ page book! More than anything, the fellowship… Continue reading

  • What to Do with Luther’s Anti-Jewish Views

    As I had mentioned, Greg, Chad and I had begun our trip visiting the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial. Of course, it was difficult not to leave Sachsenhausen somber and in a place of great sorrow over the evils that had been done to and against the Jewish people. When we would travel to the Wittenberg… Continue reading

  • Wittenberg Castle Church North Door

    Any class on Western Civilization will include Martin Luther’s pinning of the 95 Theses on the north door of what at the time was the Wittenberg Castle Church. While the then monk Martin Luther wrote of his concerns in Latin, having no designs upon becoming any kind of movement leader, intending to have a scholarly… Continue reading

  • The Wall

    The first day in Germany, while we flew into Frankfurt, we immediately took the long train ride to Berlin. After a nine-hour flight, having our days and nights turned around, that was a tough train ride. We were ready to get to our place of residence. Nonetheless, we greatly enjoyed starting our trip off in… Continue reading

  • The Birthhouse of J.S. Bach

    “With devotional music, God is always present in His grace.” -J.S. Bach Pictured here is the birthhouse of Johann Sebastian Bach born in March of 1685. The reason the picture isn’t zoomed out a bit is because immediately to the right of the picture is a rather modern structure housing a museum in commemoration of… Continue reading

  • Sachsenhausen Memorial

    “The Europe of the future cannot exist without commemorating all those, regardless of their nationality, who were killed at that time with complete contempt and hate, who were tortured to death, starved, gassed, incinerated and hanged.” -Andrzej Szczypiorski, Prisoner of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Early on in our trip, Greg, Chad and I took a… Continue reading

  • Friends

    I know I said I would write my first post on Germany on the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial where Greg, Chad and I spent an entire day. However, I thought I’d back up a bit and talk about what was most strengthening and encouraging to me about the trip to Germany. Here it is; friends.… Continue reading

  • Back from Germany

    So it’s taken me about a week to recover from a cold as well as jetlag since returning from Germany, but what an amazing trip to Germany I was able to have with my friends Chad and Greg. It’s difficult to summarize all that we experienced together as old friends who were able to talk… Continue reading

  • Ain’t Nobody Clean

    I know I said yesterday’s post would be my last for a while on Israel, nonetheless, I felt the need to add one more post before leaving for Germany. As I have been thinking a lot about Israel as of late trying to establish a proper Biblical framework and perspective in my writings, I have… Continue reading

  • One More Israel Post, Off to Germany to Mock the Devil

    So my university friends from many years ago, Greg, Chad and I, had planned originally to leave for Israel on Monday. I wanted to leave one final piece of writing for your reflection on the conflict. Dr. Yohanna Katanacho is a part-time lecturer at Regent College here locally. He is academic dean at Nazareth Evangelical… Continue reading

About Mike

Mike is 52-years-old and has been married to his beloved wife Tanya since 1995. Together they have three terrific children, a much-loved foster son, an adored Bernedoodle Otis and cat Leo. Mike has been the lead pastor of Grace Vancouver Church in Canada since 2013. In 2017, Mike completed his Doctor of Ministry work on faith, vocation, belonging and place.

ABOUT EUDAIMONIA

“Eudaimonia” is a word from classical Greek that is generally attributed to Aristotle and means “human flourishing.” When Jesus tells us in John 10:10 that He came that we might have “life to the full,” that is eudaimonia. When Jeremiah tells the exiles to seek the peace and prosperity of the city (and pray for it), that is eudaimonia (Jer. 29:7). When the kings of the earth bring their glory to the heavenly city illumined by the glory of the Son, that is eudaimonia (Rev. 21:24). When the peoples of this earth know justice, goodness, forgiveness, reconciliation and the blessings of God that reach as far as the curse is found, we will all know eudaimonia. Eudaimonia is mostly about restored relationships and joyful reunions. The unbridled joy of my bride seeing our son for the first time in six weeks after seeing him off to university, captures a moment of eudaimonia.

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