The Gospel: The Key to Parenting (09/30/09 - 21 Comments)
Last week I reviewed Bill Farley's new book Gospel-Powered Parenting. I recommended it highly, saying it had "just the right combination of affirmation (your struggles are universal struggles, your joys are universal joys) and exhortation to both encourage and challenge me in all the right ways." After I reviewed it, I found there were a few things I wanted to ask the author. I went ahead and asked if he would be willing to do...
Understanding English Bible Translation (09/29/09 - 20 Comments)
When it comes to the Bible, we, in the English-speaking world, are profoundly blessed for we have at our disposal scores of translations of Scripture. While they range from excellent to abysmal, in many cases even the worst of them is far superior to the best available in any number of other languages. And, of course, we acknowledge that multitudes of languages remain which still have no access at all to God's Word. Certainly we...
This Week's Sponsor: Moody Publishers (09/28/09 - 4 Comments)
Note: This is a sponsored post (click here to learn about sponsored posts) Hi, my name is Keith Wiederwax and I work in the marketing department of Moody Publishers. Like you, I'm a reader of Tim's blog and appreciate his open, thoughtful, and biblical perspective. I hope to follow that same "recipe" here with this sponsored post. My job at MP is to simply make you aware of our books and what need or niche...
Meet the Ministries: Grace to You (09/28/09 - 13 Comments)
There are a vast number of ministries serving the church today. Though I am familiar with many of them (by name at least) I have often wondered what each of them offer to us, and what we can offer to them. I thought it might be useful to offer a series of interviews with some prominent ministries to ask just this kind of question--who are you?, what do you do?, why do you exist?, and...
Giving Himself Willingly (09/27/09 - 6 Comments)
I have (slowly) been reading Bruce Gordon's new biography of Calvin (titled simply Calvin) and recently came to a chapter describing the situation in France during Calvin's ministry in Geneva. As a Frenchman, Calvin's influence spread beyond Geneva and into his native land. There Protestants, some connected to Calvin and others not, were being killed as part of a systematic effort to root out the seditious faith. Many were hunted down, tortured and executed. This...
Broken Promises Ever Renewed (09/26/09 - 6 Comments)
Here's a thought-provoking quote from Todd Gitlin, author of Media Unlimited. In just a few words he shows the emptiness of the pursuit of more and the emptiness of the promise of consumerism. ***** [T]he Great Depression was a turning point, frightening workers with the burden of an impoverished free time. After World War II, pent-up consumer demand for a high-consumption way of life was boosted by government subsidies (via the low-interest mortgages and expensive...
Free Stuff Fridays (09/25/09 - 10 Comments)
After a one-week hiatus, we are back with another edition of Free Stuff Fridays. This week's sponsor is Bardin & Marsee Publishing and the prize they are offering is a mite unusual. They have offered up six copies of The Waterproof Bible. Now this is the kind of product that might lead you to immediately roll your eyes; but hang on for a moment. The Waterproof Bible is simply a Bible that is, well,...
Got To's and Get To's (09/24/09 - 22 Comments)
A couple of days ago I sat down with Aileen and a blank piece of paper. On the top of the paper I wrote, "If we were better parents to our children we would..." and then, between the two of us, we began to jot down ideas. We thought of some of the things we would do if we were to be the kind of parents we really want to be--parents who love our children,...
On the Shore of Glory (09/23/09 - 12 Comments)
A couple of years ago a friend forwarded me an amazing bit of writing. It was crafted by James Russell Miller a Presbyterian pastor who lived from 1840-1912 and who pastored churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois. I assume from the first sentence that represents the opening lines of a book geared toward young people, perhaps a nineteenth century equivalent to Don't Waste Your Life. It is full of soul-stirring reflections on the brevity of life...
Gospel-Powered Parenting (09/22/09 - 12 Comments)
According to George Barna, there have been approximately 75,000 books on parenting published in the past decade. I sometimes feel like I have read all of them. It strikes me, though, that publishers must feel the same way and that, hopefully, they think hard before releasing yet another book into such a crowded marketplace. I at least wanted to give the benefit of the doubt to P&R with the release of William Farley's Gospel-Powered Parenting....
The Truth About Canadian Health Care (09/21/09 - 64 Comments)
Americans are debating the future of their nation's health care and as they do so, they keep looking beyond their borders to the systems in place in other countries. And, very often, their attention rests on Canada. More often than not, at least today, it is conservatives focusing on Canada, telling stories of woe, describing the utter breakdown of health care. You hear of people who have been forced to mortgage their homes and travel...
A Word About Advertising (09/20/09 - 14 Comments)
It must be a year or two now since I first began running a bit of advertising on my web site. Initially I did so because the costs of running the site were increasing and advertising offered a means of offsetting those costs. As time has gone on, it has continued to cover the infrastructure costs and has also been able to go toward some of the books I buy to review and, when it...
A Colloquy On Rejoicing (09/19/09 - 5 Comments)
I'll be honest. What first stood out to me about this prayer (drawn from The Valley of Vision) was the title, "A Colloquy On Rejoicing." I immediately looked up colloquy and found that it is simply a kind of formal conversation and that the word is often used in a religious context. So it makes good sense here. This prayer represents a Christian's conversation with himself as he reflects on his desire, his responsibility, to...
The Reason for Sports (09/18/09 - 15 Comments)
I have always found it difficult to think about sports in a distinctly Christian way. I love sports (mostly watching, occasionally playing) and want to be able to enjoy fandom guilt-free. But every now and then, when I look at another of the sports scandals or when I hear of the lives of athletes, I wonder if professional sports really is a worthwhile pastime for the Christian. By our participation as fans are we contributing...
Reading Classics Together - The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (XIII) (09/17/09 - 9 Comments)
We made it! And honestly, it was barely even a challenge. There have been some classics that I've had to struggle to finish. Sometimes, by the end, it is hard work just to turn the next page. But that was not that case, at least for me, with The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. I found it a joy to read from beginning to end and it is one I know I will return to...
On Visiting Saddleback Church (09/16/09 - 46 Comments)
Last week I met Rick Warren. I was in Los Angeles to speak at the Christian Web Conference (where my topic was "Tweeting Truth With Love: Grace in an Age of Instant Communication") and at the conference I bumped into David Chrzan, Warren's Chief of Staff. He and I spoke for quite some time--an hour at least--and chatted about some of the critiques I've made in the past regarding Warren and his books. With ministries...
Book Review - "If God Is Good" by Randy Alcorn (09/15/09 - 5 Comments)
It seems a fair question, doesn't it? If God is truly good, as Christians insist, then how can there be so much suffering in the world? Since ancient times this question has led skeptics to believe that God cannot, must not, exist. Even today's so-called New Atheists show how little is really new when they use the existence of suffering and evil as a linchpin of their arguments against God's existence. Quite simply, they say,...
I've Never Been Mistaken for Brad Pitt (09/14/09 - 68 Comments)
I've never been mistaken for Brad Pitt. Not once. Neither has anybody ever stopped me on the street only to look disappointed, apologize and say, "I'm sorry, I thought you were Johnny Depp." It just never happens. There's a reason for this. Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp are remarkably handsome guys (says I in a totally heterosexual way). While we all know that, at least to some extent, beauty is in the eye of the...
A Minister's Bible (09/13/09 - 1 Comments)
Every now and again I like to post a prayer drawn from The Valley of Vision. Allow me to do so again. Recently I shared the prayer titled "A Minister's Preaching." This one is similar, titled "A Minister's Bible." It is geared toward pastors, obviously, but what I really like about it is the expression of utter dependency upon God that if a minister's reading of Scripture and his preaching of Scripture are to have...
False Reverence (09/12/09 - 20 Comments)
Here is a great (and famous) quote from Mortimer Adler's classic How To Read a Book. ***** There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase is only the prelude to possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best...
Free Stuff Fridays (09/11/09 - 4 Comments)
Yesterday I took a trip across the continent, journeying from Toronto to Los Angeles. I am here in L.A. to speak at a conference a bit later on in the day. I've decided to try not to adjust to the time change and, therefore, am going to bed ridiculously early and getting up ridiculously early. Of course it probably won't much matter in the end since I am taking the red-eye home. Nevertheless, I...
Reading Classics Together - The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (XII) (09/10/09 - 6 Comments)
We've got just two readings left in this classic of the Christian faith, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. Thanks for hanging in with me through what has proven to be quite a lengthy read (twelve weeks down, one to go). A few people have asked what I intend to read when this book is complete. Truth be told, I do not yet know. Give me a couple more weeks and I will make an...
Familiarity and Contempt (09/09/09 - 15 Comments)
When I need to travel by plane, I often catch a shuttle to the airport. This is one of those little buses that will pick me up at my door and drop me at the terminal. The service is a little bit expensive (and getting more so), at least compared to having Aileen drive me, but the cost is well worth it when compared to waking the family at 5 AM and bundling them into...
Book Review - Words from the Fire (09/08/09 - 12 Comments)
The Ten Commandments was among the first lengthy passages of Scripture I ever committed to memory. Like most children, I was told to memorize the commandments and did so. Every week they were read in church, ensuring that they remained fresh in my mind. And yet, as I've grown older, I've realized that I think little about these Commandments, usually convinced that I am living by the letter of the law but rarely pausing to...
Business for the Glory of God (09/07/09 - 7 Comments)
Today is Labor Day, a holiday here in Canada, and it seemed a good opportunity to post a short excerpt from Wayne Grudem's book Business for the Glory of God. In this book Grudem seeks to show the moral goodness of business and one of the ways he does that is by discussing the goodness of the employer/employee relationship. Here is what he says: **** Employer/employee relationships provide many opportunities for glorifying God. On both...
The Puritans and Sex (09/06/09 - 7 Comments)
I have unashamedly stolen this quote from my friend David. He shared it at his blog earlier this week and it struck me how so much of what we are sure we know about history is wrong. In fact, so much of what we know about life is wrong. We hear things and assume after a while that they are true but do not investigate for ourselves. Ask the average person what they know of...
A Word About Reviews (09/05/09 - 16 Comments)
You'll have to bear with me today as I ramble a little bit on the subject of book reviews. Because reviews are such an important part of what I do here, I thought it would be worth covering just a little bit of how and why I do reviews. I generally try to review at least one book per week and, in general, I try to choose a book that you, the readers, are likely...
Free Stuff Fridays (09/04/09 - 35 Comments)
Free Stuff Fridays is an opportunity to give away some great resources and today I've got some I think you'll love. This week's sponsor is Moody Publishers. Moody has offered up five prizes, each of which will contain three brand new books: Words From the Fire by Al Mohler, The Reason for Sports by Ted Kluck and Undefiled by Harry Schaumburg. Here is a brief description of each of the books: Undefiled: "Amid the...
Undefiled (09/04/09 - 2 Comments)
The summer is drawing to a close. Though I love summer and will be sad to see the days grow shorter and the skies grow colder, fall does bring with it some great benefits, not the least of which is a long list of new books. For that reason I anticipate squeezing in a few more book reviews than usual over the next few weeks. I hope you don't mind! Very often when I do...
Reading Classics Together - The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (XI) (09/03/09 - 9 Comments)
Today we come to our eleventh reading in Jeremiah Burroughs' classic work The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. Around this time in "reading classics together" I tend to begin wondering how many people are still with me. But no matter, those of us who remain will press on! Summary After several chapters looking at the evils of a murmuring heart, Burroughs concludes his "negative" chapters by turning to "The Excuses of a Discontented Heart." Here...
The Nameless One (09/02/09 - 25 Comments)
Today we take a break from our regularly scheduled programming. I had something else to post today but wanted to put it on hold for a day or two so I can draw your attention to what I consider a very important article. It comes from Carl Trueman and is titled "The Nameless One." In the past few months I've sat down again and again to write out some of my thoughts about the whole...
Book Review - "Forgotten God" by Francis Chan (09/01/09 - 31 Comments)
Calling the Holy Spirit "Forgotten God" may be a bit of an overstatement. Or perhaps it is an understatement. Some Christians seem to show little evidence that they have any theology of the Spirit while others seem to emphasize the Spirit at the expense of other biblical doctrine. What seems clear is that few Christians have it quite right. In this new book Francis Chan says, "From my perspective, the Holy Spirit is tragically neglected...
