Hello and thanks for visiting HEis! I’m glad you’re here and it’s my hope that this blog can be a blessing to you in your exploration of God.
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About the Blog
What is the significance of the name “HEis.”?
God has chosen to identify Himself – among other ways – as “I Am” or “The Great I Am”. I think the simple description “I Am” is probably the best ways to concisely point to His eternal, all-encompassing nature.
The definition of eternal is “without beginning and without end.” If something exists and has no beginning and no end, then it merely is – period.
And that’s a perfect description of God: HEis. He exists and HEis literally everything.
Eternity is next to impossible for humans to grasp – us being finite and all – but I think it’s critically important to not lose sight of the stunning beauty, creativity, and awesome-ness of the Eternal One.
My intent for this blog is for it to be an expression of my personal exploration of God, His Son, His Spirit, His church, and His creation – not to be a place for spiritual life-hacks or information for information’s sake. My desire, ultimately, is to encourage people to begin their own exploration of the inexhaustible God of all creation. Because God is eagerly wanting to reveal Himself and all His beauty to you, but He must be the one to reveal it – I can only point in His direction as best I can. I can’t fully communicate God to anyone (shocker, I know), all I can hope to do is wake up hearts to a desire to begin their own exploration for themselves.
I’m not the point. And, newsflash, you’re not the point, either … Because Heis.
It’s easy become stale in our lives (spiritual or otherwise), and what I’m starting to see more clearly is that staleness happens when your view and experience of God is limited. When you lose connection with the vast and passionate wildness of God the result is boredom.
But God is vast … and Heis passionate, wild, and beautiful. So I want to help Christians (and searching non-Christians, as well) have their eyes opened afresh to God. There’s no way to grow bored with him if you truly understand how big Heis.
So, I guess you could say that another goal is that this blog will lead to you feeling smaller, not larger.
Hopefully what I express in these digital pages help you to question more deeply (and consistently), think more critically, and seek intimacy with the living God more intensely.
As God has been leading me through my questions, I have found myself being constantly challenged by what He reveals. Heis opening my eyes to things that challenge ideas that I have held about the Christian worldview and the church. And boy, am I glad He’s been challenging me. Because I’ve found that I absolutely need my understanding challenged, broken, and rebuilt.
Growth and discomfort are inseparable. The fact is: if you consider yourself a follower of Christ and find that you’re never challenged in any meaningful ways, then you should be concerned. God is bigger than you, and His plans are bigger than you, His means are bigger than yours, His thoughts higher than your thoughts. If you’ve “got it all figured out” you honestly should be concerned.
With that said, if you don’t want to have your understanding challenged in any way, you probably won’t like this blog. But, if you are willing to dig, search, and question, then you should appreciate this space.
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As far as content is concerned, HEis. will be comprised of a range of content types. For example:
- Observations and insights into how I see God expressed in the world around me
- Examinations of passages or themes in scripture
- Re-examinations of commonly misunderstood or misused passages in scripture
- Writings of exhortation to the church/believers in Christ
- Expressions of things that I’ve learned, or am still learning, along my journey into God
- Artistic expressions; whether they be poetry, photography, art, etc.
- Book reviews & overviews
- Thought pieces meant to explore more complex or abstract ideas, or areas of inference, for the purpose of encouraging thinking, questioning, and conversation. These types of posts are not meant to be “taken as gospel”, as they say. These are simply things that I’m rolling around in my mind at the time and could open interesting lines of thought but may ultimately be nothing. Take them for what they’re worth.
There you have it, that’s what HEis.
Now…
Who “I” is
Hi! My name is Alex and I was born, raised, and currently reside in the beautiful city of Charlotte, North Carolina.
I’m just an average guy, really. I’m a full-time employee and an even fuller-time husband to an incredible wife and father to two amazing boys and a beautiful girl.
A few things to know about me … I was raised in the church and I’m still learning more and more every day what it means to love God … I love to write (obviously), I love to read, I love woodworking, I love baking — because then I get to eat baked goods (obviously), I love photography, and I love listening to a wide variety of music … I’m big into sports, I really enjoy being in the mountains, I kind of like working on cars, I can appreciate yard work, I like saving money, and spicy food is growing on me … I find musicals to be mostly “meh” … I strongly dislike reality television, politics (not even some of it, all of it), complicated math, and freeway traffic that exists for no-good-reason (learn how to merge, people!).
I am both an extrovert and an introvert. I really enjoy being out with friends and meeting new people — I’m not at all intimidated by interacting with people I don’t know and building a connection them. But at the same time, I love being at home and having time to myself where I can just be in my thoughts.
I think I’m pretty simple, but my wife would probably say I’m complicated. I’m probably complicated.
But that’s me! Again, my name’s Alex, and I really appreciate you visiting!