About Patrick and “Take Note Of This”

Greetings, reader. Thanks for taking the time to explore my ramblings. Chances are we know each other if you’ve managed to find this website. If we don’t know one another, I’m glad you’ve found your way here. My name is Patrick Bondurant Quinn. I was born in October 1995 in Fairfax, Virginia. I’m a graduate of  Christopher Newport University and Reformed Theological Seminary (DC) and a pastor at Capital Presbyterian Church of Fairfax.

Two of my greatest passions are teaching and writing. I’ve learned that my fingers are far better at expressing my thoughts and feelings than my mouth is. As a teenager, I discovered how cathartic journaling could be. The Notes app on my Mac has become a vast depository for my intellectual, emotional, and spiritual venting. Most of what I write is unorganized and deeply personal. Much of it is prayer. Occasionally, I came to the realization that I had written something coherent and suitable for others to read. Those thoughts then wound up here.

I started this website as a personal blog in 2015, originally titled “Thinking Through Airhorns,” and later “Life Through Contemplation.” My first post was about how terrible I am at naming things. The first two years consisted of sporadicly posting a wide range of material I had written. Topics include Kierkegaard, parenting, biblical love, Pokemon Go, suicide, free will, and deathhack (the single greatest sport known to the species). Publishing my writing was a first step in learning vulnerability and trust, and helped connect me to a world I desperately loved and feared.

Slowly, my content shifted away from aimless ramblings, short stories, and dream journals and toward Bible studies, difficult faith-related questions, philosophical essays and more well-thought-out personal reflection. Whereas before posting to my blog was a sort of screaming into the void with an audience, I truly started to write with the intent that people would read my work. I wanted to encourage others, to teach my readers about things I loved, and to bear witness to God’s work in my life.

In the years since I shifted the focus of this website, I’ve completed seminary and become a pastor. These days most of my posts are sermon manuscripts and old seminary papers, but occasionally I’ll upload an original post based on some personal reflection or a conversation with a congregant. I pray you find some helpful insights here which bring you closer to the face and heart of our Lord.

With Christ’s love,

Patrick Quinn