About Good Begins With God
This newsletter grew out of a simple habit: sitting down for one hour each week in adult Sunday School and listening, and once in awhile participating.
Adult Sunday School is exactly what it sounds like. It is Sunday School for adults and usually happens before church. In the South, it is a regular part of church life. At Andrews United Methodist Church, the class has been an important place for learning, discussion, and reflection.
What you will read here is not a transcript of Sunday School and does not attempt to represent the class itself. These are essays shaped by what I hear, what I reflect on afterward, and what I have learned slowly over time. I am a lifelong learner, and it often takes me a while to figure things out. When I do, insights tend to stay with me. If they stand the test of time, I will probably start to share them.
One particularly intricate class involved multiple white board diagrams mapping out the relationships between God, humanity, and everything else. At some point during class, it was either explicitly stated or it suddenly dawned on me that all good flows from God. And that one realization forever changed how I think.
Good Begins With God is my way of sharing the small amount of what I've learned that I feel is truly valuable.
The Bible plays a central role in this blog, but not in a rigid or technical way. For me, the Bible has been a backdoor into faith. I started reading it because it made understanding the uniquely human problems we all run into much easier for me. I see the Bible as a kind of Boy Scout Handbook to life, especially when it comes to understanding human nature. Even setting belief aside, it offers a clear view of what people are capable of (both bad and good), why they struggle, how people respond under pressure, and what helps them grow. For me, it became a practical resource for recognizing what does not work in me, what sometimes does, and how to shift that balance over time. It has also helped me think more clearly about relationships, boundaries, and responsibility.
I grew up in Maine. After converting a very liberal upbringing into a 4 year English and Art degree at Oberlin College, I spent my early adult years working as a photographer in New York City, which I refer to as "bootcamp for life."
New York was an intense education in work and relationships. It taught me how to operate in demanding environments, but neither college nor New York taught me enough about how to do life in a way that safeguarded me and the people around me by default. I also grew up in a very conscientious family, where doing good and helping other people is a way of life. Coming from a family and background that deeply cares about people I will forever be grateful for, especially knowing how bad many of the alternatives can be. But again I found that pursing good without guidance from God often caused (usually inadvertent but very real) human problems, problems that divine guidance manages to completely avoid.
Sunday School introduced a different layer of understanding, one that connects daily choices to a deeper sense of direction that avoids landmines and misery.
What I have found is that it takes work, but that the reward is not small. For me, the reward is an understanding of the components of existence that without faith is simply not possible. If a reader gains a small fraction of the benefit I get from Sunday School, it feels worthwhile. The writing is sometimes assisted by artificial intelligence for clarity and organization, but the ideas come from lived experience, real conversations, and long engagement with the Bible.
This newsletter exists to explore a simple question that is at the heart of how all of us see the world: Where does Good come from? I believe it comes from God. If that is true, I have a responsibility to be a good steward of what is good and to respect the source that provides it.
The saying "The road to hell is paved with good intentions," is a saying for a reason - and that reason in my opinion is that if you don't respect the source of good - and the rules that go along with what is good - then even good can take you straight to hell. You may disagree about the source of good. That's totally ok and I am keen to debate any humanist or atheist on where good comes from. But this is my zone and in my zone, until proven otherwise, Good Begins With God. And this is the place we unpack that.