LOOKING UP: Kyle Hooks - "I’m sure you’ve found out by now that life is not a walk in the park. In fact, life hurts. We get injured, sometimes seri­ously. We get sick. Friends and loved ones betray us. Sometimes everything just falls apart. When things do come undone, and we are hurt­ing in ways we didn’t know we could, it’s easy to think of God as an incompetent nincompoop who can’t help us, at best, or a sadis­tic despot, at worst."

LOOKING UP: Kyle Hooks - "Jesus said, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.” (Luke 9:58) He also commanded wealthy people to give away their money and that’s exactly what his early followers did. (Mat­thew 19:21 and Acts 2:4) He gave up glory in heaven to come to earth. (Philippians 2:6-7) So, as Christians in the wealthiest nation in the world, what should our re­sponse to material wealth be?"

LOOKING UP: Kyle Hooks - "I realized it the other day, and it’s about time to just admit it. I am a religious extremist, and I’d like you to join me."

LOOKING UP: Kyle Hooks - "Every now and then, the Standard-Times publishes a story that hits a nerve with San Angeloans, as evidenced by the comments on our website. Usually, these stories touch a moral issue and tend to report salacious or wild behavior. By “every now and then,” I mean frequently. A good example of this is the story reporting a franchiser’s plans to open a Twin Peaks restaurant in the old Golden Corral building on Knickerbocker Road."

LOOKING UP: Kyle Hooks - "I used to be a facilitator for a team- and leadership-building Boy Scouts program called COPE, or Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience. It’s one of those weekend courses that involves exercises like the trust fall. Another part of the course involves a high-elements obstacle course. Imagine a 33-foot-high, 200-foot-long zip line preceded by a 27-foot high, 30-foot long log you have to cross to get to it."