What has happened to our ability to write, to read, to appreciate the beauty and mystery of words? In Eugene Peterson’s book Answering God, he discusses three forms of language — language that informs, language […]
Author: pete santucci
Pete Santucci loves creation, recreation, and procreation. He is a husband, father, follower of Jesus, and lover of community, hoppy beers & the great outdoors. Along with writing about faith and life, he’s available as a consultant/coach for individuals and churches and is also available as a speaker for churches, retreats, camps, and conferences. Feel free to contact him directly at petesantucci@icloud.com.
The gospel according to March Madness
I love college sports and so do my kids. And as much as we enjoy college football’s bowl season, NCAA basketball’s March Madness is the highlight of our sports viewing year. But there’s something disturbing […]
I hope this makes a splash
If not, I’m all wet.
8 biblical truths about politics
The biblical perspective on politics is multi-faceted, calling us to engage in the care for communities while refusing to put much fear or hope into political outcomes. 1. Political engagement is important. The Old Testament is […]
I don't like what you said, but it doesn't make you wrong
My feelings were hurt by something I had overheard and I was determined to get even. So, I wrote a nasty letter. (This was back in the days when people wrote letters.) In it, I […]
Oneness: God's vision for marriage & for the whole world
I’ve seen too much pain in the gender wars in the church, too much using the Scriptures as a weapon. As a result, I came to avoid passages like Eph. 5:22-33. It was only when […]
The case for pity
“Do not scorn pity that is the gift of a gentle heart” – J.R.R. Tolkien We live in a culture that wants nothing of pity (other than self-pity). We never want to give someone else […]
In praise of pi
My son Josiah has been looking forward to March 14 for weeks. It’s Pi Day (since March 14 is 3/14, which resembles 3.14, the first three digits of pi). And this morning, on the way […]
Being right, but acting badly
I hate it when I lose my temper and the moral high ground. I hate that part of me that blows it when I’m in the right and damages the truth in the process. I’ve […]
Invited in
David lay in bed, his heart pounding in his chest. All else was quiet and he could feel the thumping through his body. It scared him. Earlier that day, his mother had told him about […]
Faith is a continuing conversation
This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to listen to a friend of mine (also named Pete) preach. He started the sermon with a clip from a movie we’d seen together several years before and […]
When superheroes aren't so super
My family watches a lot of superhero TV shows and movies. Just about every Marvel and DC release is consumed with relish, even the schlocky ones. We need heroes. They embody our desires for ourselves. […]
Finding the purpose in our suffering
Pain is one of the most personal things any of us ever experiences. Whether physical or emotional, pain has the ability to focus our attention unlike almost any other human experience. This past week, I […]
The 2 things essential to living a graced life
Everything good in my life has been given to me. My life itself. My wife. My children. My friendships. My body, with its unique physical abilities. My mind, with its unique and often odd ways of […]
Theology for everyday life
Too often there is a disconnect between what we believe and how we live. There’s Sunday worship and there’s the rest of life. We know there ought to be a connection between the two. In […]
Pastor of the playground, or How to join God in the work He's doing in the world
I was listening to a friend talk about the frustrations of being an elementary school recess duty. In doing her job, she spent most of her time trying to enforce playground rules, which meant she was […]
The gospel according to Kanye
Like everyone in our media-drenched culture, I get a lot out of celebrity screw-ups. We love the abilities that celebrities share with the world — whether they are musicians, athletes, politicians, actors, artists, authors, or […]
What does the Holy Spirit do?
What would the Christian life look like without the Holy Spirit? To answer that question, I ask an oddly similar one: What would the world look like without Garfield the cat? Personally, I’ve never liked the […]
The book that taught me to read like a pastor
I had just finished reading Morgan’s Passing by Anne Tyler and hated it. Morgan was no hero, I fumed. He was selfish from start to finish. His silly outfits. His affair. He was all about […]
1 year in blogging … 1 job offer
When I starting blogging a year ago, I didn’t expect to earn a penny at it. I just started writing and didn’t stop. A friend who has written nine books told me that seven of […]
I am so out of control
Ever take stock of your life like they do at a retail store? Checking the inventory on the shelves, the stuff everyone sees? Totaling up everything in the back that no one sees but you? […]
Love is a relationship, not an event
Today is Valentine’s Day. Not only is it a day of mandatory romance as dictated by Hallmark, but there’s a “Love Rally” planned for nation’s capitol, promoting love and denouncing hate. Now, I’m all for […]
The God who doesn't shame us for having questions
Some friends and I were sitting around the dinner table, talking about Thomas. The Bible calls him The Twin, but we’ve settled on calling him The Doubter. Poor guy. Thomas has a bad rep. Partly, […]
Why we ash & why we fast
It’s Ash Wednesday. It’s one of those holy days with which I have an odd relationship. I went to St. Monica Catholic High School as a Protestant. My Dad had been excommunicated from the Catholic Church […]
Creating islands of community in a sea of loneliness
In the book The Martian (which the movie is based on), an astronaut is accidentally left on Mars during a storm when the rest of the crew believes he is dead. He survives all kinds of […]
From Bible reading to Bible living
Followers of Jesus have always had a sense that our Bible reading ought to lead to a change in the way we live our lives. We are followers, after all, and following has action at […]
The problem with my book shelves
I have an incredible library. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, reference — I’ve got thousands of incredible books on my shelves. I’ve even read some of them! But there are some problems with my having all of […]
Following the Jesus who follows us
Do we follow Jesus or does he follow us? The question is less simple than it lets on. One of Jesus’ signature quotes is, “Follow me.” Simple. Direct. Unmistakable. Evocative. He looks an individual in […]
Who speaks grace into your life?
I try to duck and dodge from it, but the reality of my sin is always before me. It’s ugly. It’s embarrassing. It’s persistent. But the grace of our Lord is just as real, just as […]
The beauty of stretch marks
Stretch marks are a sign of having given birth. If we don’t have them literally or metaphorically, we probably haven’t given birth. But if we do have stretch marks, we have taken part in the […]
How social media messes up our experience of community
Control. That’s the problem with social media. I’m in control. You’re in control. Our social media worlds revolve around us like planets around a sun. It’s the web and I am the spider, sitting plumply […]
How we know God
The only way to know God is to live in his love and to share it with others. This is how the Scriptures put it: Beloved, let us love one another, for love comes from […]
Caring for our neglected souls
We live in a culture that knows almost nothing about souls. The word is used so rarely, it may soon drop out of the language altogether. And who treats us like we have souls? We […]
What makes movies rewatchable? And a list of the 50 most rewatchable movies ever
With the Advent of Netlix and Hulu and Amazon Prime, I don’t feel like I need to own movies anymore. Well, kinda. None of those services have everything and there are some movies that I […]
When God dumps out your toy box … it must be time to play!
You can always tell what toys my kids are into, because they’re all over the house. I do a lot of cleaning up of the toys behind my kids. But they just keep dumping them out again. […]
Still true 60 years later
Jim Elliot died 60 years ago. He was 28. His love for God led him to Latin America, where he was eventually killed by the Waodoni people he was reaching out to. The outcome of […]
Mourning the death of celebrities in our death-denying culture
David Bowie. Alan Rickman. Glen Frey. I’m sure there are others as well, but already 2016 has been a rough year on celebrities with these three deaths. While never a huge Bowie fan, his music […]
Listening to MLK with my daughter
Like everyone else, I’m grateful for a 3-day weekend, thanks to Martin Luther King Day observance. It has given me the chance to take my daughter to a volleyball tournament, where she is playing teams from […]
How to teach theology
Seth Godin is one of my favorite bloggers. His brief and poignant observations are generally right on the money. This past week, Seth posted on “How to teach science.” But reading the post, I quickly […]
God hides nothing
Keep looking. You’ll see him!
Weakness is the way
As I grow older, I am becoming more and more aware of my weaknesses, my limitations, my inabilities. My eyes are growing worse. It’s harder for me to stay in shape. I forget things easily. My […]
The not-knowing of being a parent
“So, Mom, you raised five kids. What did you learn?” We were sitting in the small family room of our tiny one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver. My parents had come more than 1000 miles to see […]
Tired of myself
“I’m tired of myself.” The words struck me as I listened to an interview with author Donald Miller several years ago on Oregon Public Broadcasting. Miller is a writer who explores faith through telling his […]
The Lord of the Rings & the Bigger Story
I first read The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy trilogy, when I was in 5th grade. The books were having a resurgence after Tolkien’s death and bands like Led Zeppelin were referencing Mordor […]
The sanity of Sabbath-keeping
One of the most life-changing books that I’ve ever read is Marva Dawn’s Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting. In it, she explains how Sabbath-keeping isn’t so much a matter of obligation, but of […]
Will I love God's baby as much as my own?
The book of Genesis is about babies. And as we read, we discover having babies is rough business. Abraham and Sarah are promised babies. Lots of babies. But when it comes down to it, getting […]
Following the Wild Goose & not the wild geese
Poets and artists are among our best companions in the life of faith. They come at things from unique angles and expose things about us and the world and God that we’d never seen or heard […]
Celebrating marriage — including the dark parts
“Marriage is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” I was sitting in Eugene Peterson’s class on Ephesians at Regent College when he said those words. He didn’t elaborate and I think I missed the rest […]
Chuck Norris & the image of God
I’ve been thinking about the most powerful human being ever to live. And no, I don’t mean Jesus. I mean Chuck Norris — martial arts expert, movie & TV star, and Internet phenomenon. Here are […]
Living as dual citizens
Almost a decade ago, we removed the American flag from the sanctuary of the church I was pastoring. I don’t remember why. It was probably a part of decorating for Advent. But it got put in such a safe place that […]
Wendell Berry & living gratefully in the place where the past meets the future
One of my favorite authors is Wendell Berry, who has been writing novels and poetry and essays for more than 50 years. I’ve soaked in almost 30 of his books over the past decade and have […]
A simple spiritual health survey
What does spiritual health and maturity look like? How do I gauge where I’m at and where I need to grow? When I think of discipleship — a life of following Jesus — I see […]
The Force Awakens & the God who "never slumbers or sleeps"
Last night, our youngest child stumbled into our bedroom. He couldn’t sleep. Despite a bedroom encircled with Christmas lights to keep the midnight wraiths away, he’d had nightmares again. So, he slid between my wife […]
The keys to successful resolutions — incremental, measurable, achievable
As we prepare to step into a new year, I often do the resolution thing. I know that most resolutions that most of us set for ourselves don’t make it past the first few weeks of […]
Prayer is simply keeping company with God
Every now and then I come across a book where the title alone is enough for me. In fact, when I read it, I discover that the rest of the book is really just helping […]
A basic Bible-reading guide
There are lots of plans for reading through the Bible. Each has its merit and I invite you to try several. The most important thing is to actually do some and to do it as […]
Getting real — four pegs to hang your life on
Our lives are a complex mass of thoughts, emotions, relationships, and activities. And there is no time of the year that is free from experiencing personal traffic jams. With four kids in four different schools and all their […]
What watching Star Wars teaches us about reading the Bible
[Be forewarned. There will be spoilers from Star Wars: The Force Awakens included in this post.] Joining the masses who have made Star Wars: The Force Awakens the biggest blockbuster of all time (so far), I took my family […]
An alternative nativity
Click here for an Alternative Nativity. It is easily the most moving version I’ve seen of the biblical account. Rendered in modern images from the real plight of Syrian refugees, it comes alive for me freshly. Our Lord […]
White Christmases & other ridiculous expectations
We will have a white Christmas here at home in Bend, Oregon. It’s been dumping snow off and on for a month now and we’ve got heaps of it lining our icy roads. So, the […]
Missing Jesus on Christmas
I love the Christmas story. But there’s one part of it that haunts me. It’s the part where the magi make it to Jerusalem, not knowing where to go to finish their journey. No address or […]
The Christmas story according to my kids
On a snowy day in 2008, my kids acted out the Christmas story. I’m biased, but it’s still my favorite presentation. And you get the whole story in two and a half minutes! Click here […]
What does your sign say?
When our youngest was four, he was the only non-reading member in a household of readers. And he knew it. So, he decided that he wanted to know what all these words around him meant. When […]
11,000 miles of thanks!
If I were to run around the United States, I’d cover 11,000 miles. Not being a runner, that sounds miserable to me. But being a writer, reaching 11,000 views today was wonderful. I love writing, but I also […]
What do we do with our insecurities?
When I was in college, the city I was living in was hit by a powerful earthquake. And I was sitting on the toilet. As I sat there, I thought, “This isn’t where I want to […]
Paying the smart phone tax
Paying the smart phone tax by Seth Godin It might be costing you more than you think. Urgent or important?: Your phone has been optimized to highlight the urgent. It buzzes and beeps. It sorts things. […]
Christmas — God "for" us & "with" us
Christmas changes everything. It upends everything we think about God. And even more than that, it offers a completely different way of experiencing God. For in one event, it shows us that God is both […]
Destroying the "wall of hostility" — multiculturalism & the kingdom of God
It’s only in the past few years that Hollywood has finally become truly multicultural, with entire casts featuring lead and supporting actors who aren’t mostly white. And what’s been so great is that it hasn’t […]
Christmas lights & the beautiful life
I love Christmas lights. Any Christmas lights. There’s something to dangling white icicle lights and traditional colored bulbs, something to rope lights and net lights that warms a cold December night for me. I will always […]
Some civility, please!
Last night, my daughter showed me a meme comparing Donald Trump to Adolph Hitler. On one hand, it was a pointed critique of some truly disturbing rhetoric by him. On the other hand, it was […]
Morality vs. Moralism
Morality is a decision-making system which gives the ability to judge between right and wrong. It is a ruler by which things are measured and found to be worthy or not. It is a filter that strains out the […]
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer & the birth of Jesus
Each December, we engage with the same stories over and over again. On one hand, we’ve got the birth narrative of Jesus. On the other hand, we’ve got a collection of well-loved holiday movies Year […]
Beauty for ashes
I’d had one of those days. Bad news followed by more bad news. All of it weighing on me. But then I took a breath. A deep, lung-filling breath. All of a sudden, a new […]
The saint behind Santa Claus
When my oldest son was 4, he and two of his little buddies were sitting in a row of carseats talking about Santa Claus. “I can’t wait for Santa Claus to come,” said the first […]
What our phones reveal about what we value
The entire time I was growing up as a kid, we used the same rotary phone, adding a second wall phone to the same line somewhere along the way. But after being given the first […]
Advent & the silence of Zechariah
One of the most-omitted Christmas stories is that of Zechariah and the angel in the temple (Luke 1:5-25). We all want to jump right to the birth of Jesus and focus on either Matthew 2 […]
Unemployed at Christmas
Unemployed at Christmas Joseph the carpenter Did not build his baby’s bed/// Shepherds left their field And their flock No longer shepherding But chasing the angels’ call instead/// Magi followed a star Not their career […]
Getting right what's wrong — why defining sin can be helpful
Sin is not a particularly fun topic, so I wouldn’t be surprised if most people avoid this post completely. But the ways we think about what’s wrong in our lives and the world around us […]
I'm not sure if I'm indecisive or not.
I’d flip a coin, but I don’t know if I want to choose heads or tails.
Liberty — our great ideal & our great idol
The Statue of Liberty stands in her solitary glory on Ellis Island, holding her torch aloft as a beckoning beacon and inviting those in need of her gift to seek it here in America. Liberty is a […]
Sorrow & joy in an age of terrorism
Evil is restless. Terrorists are amped up on a double dose of wide-eyed purpose and wild-eyed adrenaline. When you’re willing to kill in the name of an ideal and then go out with a bang, […]
The gift of thanks
It’s never too early to celebrate Thanksgiving. In fact, aside from the turkey and fixings which would quickly grow tiresome, it ought to be a daily observance. Recent studies have shown that if there is […]
If you were a drink, what would you be?
If we don’t drink, we die. There’s no question there. But what we drink and why; now, there’s a lot of room for variety with our beverage choices. When I go to coffee shops, I […]
Thanks 10,000 times!!!
When I started blogging earlier this year, I wasn’t sure I was cut out for it. I’d write something and only one person would read it. But rather than being discouraged by that, I was […]
Welcome to a post-Christian world (it's not as bad as it sounds)
We Westerners live in a post-Christian world. But don’t worry. It’s not what it sounds like. What it means is that Christianity as a cultural force is no longer the power it once was. What […]
The power of No — resistance is not futile
A while ago, I passed by a guy wearing a black t-shirt with the one-word sentence on it: “No.” I was tempted to ask him a question that he would have to answer with a […]
The problem with red cups & the problem with having a problem with red cups
So, people are upset about red cups at Starbucks. And other people are upset about people being upset about red cups at Starbucks. And how weird is it that my blog features a red cup […]
The problem with inventing your own God
I was heading to Orlando for a conference and had made preparations with friends there to have someone pick me up at the airport. I’d never met the picker-upper, so I sent not just my […]
The difference just a few seconds makes
Most of life is determined by just a few seconds here and there. Just a few seconds is usually the difference between success and failure, cleanliness and messiness, love and alienation. Turning the light off […]
Why are we always looking for a scapegoat?
Celebrities exist so that we can lift them up and adore them only to throw them to the ground when they fail us. We love to love them. And we love to see them fail […]
Praying the news
I’m a bit of a news junky. I come by it honestly, being the son of a news junky father. But living in this new era of being always connected to sources of information through […]
A reflection on reflection
Albedo. It’s not a common word, but it’s a common experience. It has to do with reflectability — an object’s ability to reflect light. Every night, when the earth has turned away from the sun […]
What will your epitaph say?
If you could sum up your life in a phrase, what would it be? And even more importantly, what would others say about you? What we think of our lives is one thing. But our […]
For all the saints
November 1 is All Saints Day. It’s kind of a catch-all day for all of the saints who couldn’t have name days of their own throughout the year. In one regard, it’s a cheap “and […]
Justin Bieber and what it means to believe
A few years ago, Justin Bieber came out with an album called “Believe.” (Yes, I’m writing about the Bieber. He’s made some very interesting comments about his own faith recently and has a new album […]
Toward a spirituality of eating
I love to eat, a lot. In fact, I love to eat a lot, a lot. Because of that, I find a certain tension inside of myself. I love to eat, because food is so good. […]
The Gospel According to The Martian
Every story is a take on the story of the world. Each one stands beside the actual story of the world, tweaking and critiquing it. The movie The Martian (and the book on which it […]
All of life is a gift
There are many parts of life that are easy to enjoy. They have some kind of reward built into them. Eating is generally its own reward. Hunger is satisfied. Taste buds are pleasurably engaged. Meal […]
What lies do I believe about God?
I believe a lot things about God. I have two theological degrees and a library of several thousand theological books. And yet when it comes down to the way I live, I find my theology […]