Great Truths (10/23/09 - 9 Comments)
If you were one of the four million people to read the bestselling book Freakonomics, you will pretty well know what to expect from the long-awaited sequel SuperFreakonomics. It has five chapters, each of which stands on its own and each of which ties varied economic data into some kind of a cohesive whole. It is just as interesting as its predecessor and sticks very closely to the formula that made the first book such...
Outgrowing the Need for Grace (10/21/09 - 13 Comments)
Last night was one of those nights where the kids kept me up for pretty much the whole thing. This morning I tried to do some writing but my brain was still clearly lying in bed. Therefore I am going to post something I wrote a couple of years ago; it is a topic that has been in my mind a good bit lately and I hope you can benefit from it. It's no secret...
New Commentaries & Reference Books (10/15/09 - 7 Comments)
While I write many book reviews, the majority of these reviews cover titles that are written on a popular level. Rarely do I look at reference material or commentaries. Yet I do receive many such books and today I want to mention some of the more notable ones that have come across my desk recently. The Acts of the Apostles by David G. Peterson (The Pillar New Testament Commentary) - With this huge addition to...
Teachers, Watchmen, Gatekeepers (10/14/09 - 6 Comments)
Earlier this year I was asked to prepare a talk on families and technology. I was to speak to a group of adults, mostly parents of teenagers, and address issues related to digital technology. I was pleased with the challenge and was reasonably happy with the final result. As I prepared that talk I began to think about the role of parents in the media consumption of their children. I turned to the Bible and...
Chasing Delight (10/02/09 - 6 Comments)
I went for a walk this morning, and pretty much had the town to myself, it seemed. Few people were out and about at 5:30 in the cold, dark, pre-dawn. This was the first time this year I've had to wear a coat while walking and the first time I've been able to see my breath misting the air around me. Winter is fast approaching. I was thinking, as I walked, about Proverbs 11:1. It...
Two Great Barriers to Faith (10/01/09 - 11 Comments)
Some time ago, no doubt while I was awake in the middle of the night with one of the children, I saw a documentary about some weird disease that causes a patient's skin to harden. This disease often sets in during childhood and causes the skin to become hard and shiny. I searched around to find the name of this condition and I think it must be "systemic sclerosis." "Dermatology Online Journal" describes it this...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
A Faithful Servant (08/26/09 - 6 Comments)
A few years ago I wrote about Edwin Alden, a missionary and pastor who served in the United States in the nineteenth century. I have since updated the article and thought I'd share a little bit of what I found. Edwin H. Alden, was born in Connecticut River Valley, on January 14, 1836, born into a line directly descended from the Pilgrims. He went to Dartmouth College and then to Bangor Seminary in Maine. After...
The Reaction & Revulsion of a Holy Nature (08/24/09 - 29 Comments)
What makes you angry? We all have our triggers, don't we? We all have certain things, certain situations, certain affronts to our dignity or pride that stir anger within. I know I've got mine. And actually, I know quite a lot about anger, as Aileen could attest (and probably will if you think to ask her!). When she and I talk about God's grace in our lives, and evidence of it, she will often point...
The Incident of the Fish (08/19/09 - 13 Comments)
A couple of years ago I decided that I'd try to read through the works of historian David McCullough (a project that continues). I eventually came to Brave Companions, a book that offers “Portraits in History”—brief glimpses of people and incidents that helped make America what she is today. One of the chapters deals with “The American Adventure of Louis Agassiz.” Agassiz was a French zoologist and geologist who settled in the United States in...
9 Things I Learned About God From Planet Earth (07/31/09 - 21 Comments)
Planet Earth is widely regarded as the greatest nature or wildlife series ever produced. Says David Attenborough in the opening moments, “A hundred years ago, there were one and a half billion people on Earth. Now, over six billion crowd our fragile planet. But even so, there are still places barely touched by humanity. This series will take you to the last wildernesses and show you the planet and its wildlife as you have never...
A Ministry of Unity (07/30/09 - 11 Comments)
My morning reading today took me to the fourth chapter of Ephesians. This is a chapter that deals primarily with the topic of unity within the body of Christ. Through the first three chapters of the book Paul has been laying the theological framework for the life of good works he describes in the final three chapters. The first topic he discusses in this regard is unity. He encourages believers to live together in humility...
Confirmation Bias (07/29/09 - 28 Comments)
"The moment a person forms a theory his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory." (Thomas Jefferson) Last night a reader of this site took the time to send me a link to an article I had somehow missed reading. It was written by Dr. Albert Mohler and discussed the subject of "confirmation bias." Dr. Mohler traces an article written by Michael Shermer of Scientific American as he discusses a...
Will We Be His Servants? (07/20/09 - 15 Comments)
I am on vacation this week--at home but taking a break from the web design that keeps me busy day after day. Sometimes I relax by writing; other times I relax by not writing. I don't know yet whether this vacation will see more of the former or the latter. My plans for today involve taking my son to swimming lessons, heading to Ikea to look at some living room furniture to replace the now-tattered...
All About Endorsements (07/13/09 - 52 Comments)
I've been thinking a fair bit lately about endorsements (or blurbs, if you prefer)--the little lines and paragraphs you see on the back of a book giving you good reasons why you really ought to read it. I have done this as I've gone through a process of defining my ministry, what I will give time to and what I will not give time to. Endorsements, when done right, take a lot of time and...
Idolatry New and Old (07/08/09 - 48 Comments)
A little while ago my friend Ian loaned me the PBS DVD series The Story of India This six-part series, which runs about six hours, simply tells the story of India from ancient times until roughly the time of Indian Independence. It is a good documentary, even if the host's excessive exuberance toward all things Indian is a little bit hard to take after a while. "Oh, isn't that wonderful! Fantastic! Remarkable! Unbelievable! Stupendous!" As...
