Author Archives: davetcourt

*as stated elsewhere in this space, I’ve been slowly putting a rough draft of a project I’ve been working on forever (writing my life’s story) down in this space where I can let it breathe and have it hold me accountable to finishing it someday. Emphasize “rought draft,” but here is another installment: I imagineContinue reading “My Life Story: Chapter 4”

*as mentioned elsewhere, last year I sarted to construct my life story. I’ve slowly been forcing myself to put some of the rudimentary writings, in all of its rough and unedited form, into this space so as to hold myself accountable to it. This is another entry: As I’ve already mentioned, memory is a peculiarContinue reading “Chapter 4: The Story of My Life”

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts in this space, I’ve been journeying through the Gospel of Mark this year, both with my church and with select authors/commentaries. Along this journey I’ve been trying to stay open to whatever God desires to say through this study and meditation. Sometimes the thoughts that come from this areContinue reading “What Goes in Must Come Out: Making Sense of Jesus’ Commentary on Purity Laws in Mark 7”

I was listening to an interview with Thi Nguyen, author of his newest book The Score: How To Stop Playing Someone Else’s Game, and it raised some intriguing questions regarding the role of “measures” when it comes to the way we experience life in this world. His passion is games (see his book Games: Agency AsContinue reading “Analyzing The Game of Life: How Prayer Becomes An Antidote To Our Need For Control”

Listening to Jack Garrett’s cover of the Waterboys’ “The Whole of the Moon” this morning. Was struck by this thought. 10 years ago I started my personal blog space as a way of grappling with the reality of turning 40, which for me had brought on a deeply felt existential crisis regarding this world andContinue reading “The Waterboys, The Whole of the Moon, and Seeing the Grace of the Stories That Shape Us”

The tagline for the book Progress: A History of Humanity’s Worst Idea by Samuel Miller McDonald says,“Progress is power. But our modern story of progress is a very dangerous fiction.” I have been listening to this on audio along with Sven Beckert’s Capitalism: A Global History and Adam Kucharski’s Proof: The Art and Science ofContinue reading “Why the Narratives We Tell Matter: Understanding The Myths of Progress, Capitalism, and Proofs”

For me when people ask who my favorite filmmaker is there is one name that immediately comes to mind- Guillermo del Toro. I have read a ton on this enigmatic figure over the years, I had the chance to visit the touring exhibit on his life and career, At Home With Monsters, and I’ve spentContinue reading “Finding Truth in the Tension: Learning to be Okay”

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that theContinue reading “Why Do We Fear the Transformed Man Rather Than the Demons: Reflections on Mark 5 and 6”

Here’s my list of watches for January: The Old Woman With the Knife (Min Kyu-dong, 2026)- a stylish South Korean indie action film with some nice character beats Night Call (Michiel Blanchart, 2025)- a tense low budget thriller about a guy who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time from France andContinue reading “My January Watches”

My month started with two hold overs from 2025, the buzzy Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (format: physical book) and the massive tome, Mark Twain by Ron Chernow (format: audiobook). Both books are ones in which I read the majority last year, but finished in the early weeks of January. McConaghy’s patient mystery livedContinue reading “My January Reads”