Words Less Spoken

“With the help of a bottle of wine and all the wisdom I could muster, I tried my level best to penetrate the absurdity of life.”
- Ecclesiastes 2:3, The Message

If you have ever struggled to find faith but stubbornly refuse to quit searching, Words Less Spoken is for you. Faith isn’t about having all the right answers but about asking better questions. This blog  shares inspiration and insights along the path toward happiness and wisdom.

My name is Lyndon. I’ve been an ordained minister in the Christian faith for almost 20 years. After seeing a growing disconnect between the life of Jesus and the practice of the church bearing his name, I left full time pastoral ministry and the church altogether for a few years, during which I went through a period of deconstruction. I found it helpful during those years to blog through that process and share my journey with others who were going through similar experiences in their faith.

I developed an illness in 2009 and quickly exhausted medical treatment without finding relief. At the point of desperation I began meditating and taking natural herbs and supplements. Not only did I become healthy, but surprisingly I also became happy. I first began studying Buddhism as a means of deepening my meditation practice but found that it affected every aspect of my life and helped me engage it with more clarity and peace. Buddhist teaching and meditation also helped me to approach my Christian roots from a new perspective and develop a deeper, more authentic faith than I ever knew before.

One of my teachers says, “Meditation isn’t the latest cure for what ails you.” I’m not offering a quick fix or a miracle cure for anything. This is just my story. Meditation is only a tool that helps us engage reality. Discovering Buddhist teachings was like finding an owner’s manual for my mind. The Four Noble Truths teach that life contains suffering. There is a cause for suffering, and the good news is that there is also an end to suffering. I hope to use this blog to share inspiration and insights that will give you joy and encouragement along your own path, and, I hope in some small way will help to relieve suffering.

I’m 35 years old. My wife Danielle and I have been married for 17 years, and we have two sons ages 10 and 8. We live in the U.S. in the state of Louisiana, where I was born & raised. I currently make a living in healthcare, but I make a life spending time with family and friends. I enjoy teaching, reading, writing, cooking, & gardening, but I’m passionate about ideas, possibility, creativity, and helping others.

Feel free to contact me on Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook.

Lyndon

These are a few posts that might help you learn more about where I’m coming from, if you really wanted to know:

• A pilot who doesn’t fly, a preacher who doesn’t preach
• Am I a Christian?
• So you want to sell advertising when you grow up?
• Believing, Belonging, Doing, or Being
• To be admired or to be known
• Myspace, My Family, and My Tattoo
• A Hobbit’s Tale of the Soul
• Reconnecting
• Changes & Conversations
• To Preach or Not To Preach
• Living Unplugged
• Changing Worldviews
• A Moment of Clarity
• Losing Faith
• Why I Can’t Give Up
• Christmas, Confusion, & Cremation
• Live Never Better, Death Never More Certain
• An Exercise in Sanity

More than you wanted to know, but you kept on reading:

My PBS Faithbook profile

My favorite music: Bruce Springsteen, David Gray, Joe Pug, John Mayer, Mumford & Sons, Ray Lamontagne, and too many more to list

My favorite TV shows: Big Brother, Boardwalk Empire, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, and The Sopranos

My favorite team: LSU Tigers

My hometown: Morgan City, Louisiana