The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish.
—John 1:14, The Message

I believe that Jesus Christ really lived 2,000 years ago, that he was The Messiah, the incarnation of the Lord God. For a short period of time, the Creator of the universe put skin on, breathed our air, tasted our food, lived as we live and experienced what life is like from our point of view.

But Jesus was no anthropologist gathering data for a book. I believe Jesus' purpose was to reveal to us who God is and what God wants, and to create the possibility of a bilateral relationship, something he accomplished through his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave.

There is something else that I believe: belief is not enough.

If you imagine Christianity to be some sort of feel-good, Love Boat religion, think again. At its heart, Christianity is utterly radical. It suggests that the God who put on Jesus' skin is ready to indwell us, too. Christianity is not a philosophy of life, but a transformational, regenerative, redemptive relationship with the God of Creation—it demands that we go beyond thinking differently to being different.

I hope this doesn't sound like the ravings of a religious nutcase. I don't intend for this blog to become a soap box where I rage against the world.

Rather, AnotherThink is about thinking differently and being different. Does Christianity make sense in the post-modern era? Did it ever make sense? If I try to live my life as though the words Jesus spoke were true, are true, what would that be like?

AnotherThink is about blending faith with life.

The apostle Paul writes that we view life in a very tarnished and worn mirror, or as though "squinting in a fog, peering through a mist" (1 Corinthians 13:12, The Message). But one day, these mysteries will be revealed to us. And in the meantime, we puzzle and wonder. I hope you enjoy my puzzlement, and that it leads you to ask important questions about the meaning of life and your purpose in it.

Here are a few biographical details, for those who may be interested.

I'm married to Kathy, a wonderful young woman who has helped keep me honest before God. We're the parents of two excellent children and the legal guardians of a tennis-ball-chewing golden retriever.

I work as a missionary computer consultant and trainer, an admittedly unusual occupation, but a very rewarding one. Computers are how I make my living, but technology is not the thing that makes me glad to be alive.

The photo is from last year's hiking trip in Zion National Park, Utah. God has created many beautiful places on this earth, and experiencing some of those places is one of my great joys.

I enjoy relationships and converstion. I love stumbling across new ideas, so I read and then write about what I've found. I love art, music and movies.

The other things I'm passionate about show up in these pages. AnotherThink gives me an opportunity to spread a little of God's salt on the black ice of the Internet, something else I'm passionate about.

May God's grace soak you like a warm, spring rain.

Charles Lehardy