Shea Eugene

Among The Ruins

– Expositions on Being Here

Things are not as they should be.

We feel it in our bones, see it in our streets, hear it in our weary sighs. Life under the sun is fleeting, heavy, and often cruel. Our steps are bloodied on the hard road of suffering. Behind us lie the ashes of a lost Eden. Before us rise the thorns that choke our vision of tomorrow.

Among the Ruins: Expositions on Being Here is a contemplative journey through futility, pain, exile, and entanglement. Drawing on the voice of Qoheleth, the laments of Job and the Psalms, the dust of Genesis, and the groaning of the apostle Paul, these meditations invite you to name the ruin without rushing to resolution.

Here is an honest theology of brokenness. Each chapter offers a space to linger with Scripture, a prayer of lament, and a Selah moment to practice being present with God in the ruins.

This is not a book of answers. It is a companion for pilgrims who dare to speak the truth: things are not as they should be. Yet even in the ashes, the Presence remains.

Opening

  • Opening Thoughts
    To be here is to live among ruins: finite, fallen, and restless. These opening meditations invite us to walk with Scripture in honesty and lament, learning what it means to be here — and to be His.

Part I — Under the Sun (Looking Around)

  • A Vapor’s Weight
    Life under the sun is fleeting, like mist that vanishes when grasped. Qoheleth’s lament names the futility of our striving, yet even vapor bears a strange weight that awakens in us the longing for what is eternal.

  • The Problem of Evil
    Considers the most common objection to God’s goodness and power, showing that both “problem” and “evil” presuppose His reality. Scripture’s laments, from Job to Revelation, demonstrate that evil does not contradict God but magnifies our longing for His final justice.

Part II — On a Hard Road (Looking Down)

  • The Blisters of the Journey
    Suffering is not always sudden tragedy but the weary grind of daily life. The pilgrim’s feet bleed from the slow erosion of the road, teaching us to bring even ordinary aches into lament before God.

  • The Protest of Suffering
    Distinguishes pain from suffering, showing how suffering is not only the experience of pain but the protest that things should not be this way. This universal cry of “should” becomes a witness to God’s reality, for even our laments testify that the world was made for something more than ruin.

Part III — Amid Ashes (Looking Back)

  • From Dust to Dust
    Exile reminds us of our origin and our end. We are dust breathed upon by God, yet under the curse we return to ashes. To lament this truth is to live honestly amid our mortality.

Part IV — In the Thick of Thorns (Looking Forward)

Every hard journey is eased by good companions, and your steps alongside mine are a gift to me.
Should you wish, you may contribute some coin to the Pilgrim’s Purse.

PilgrimArt