Be Imitators of Me (10/10/06 - 7 Comments)
When I find a topic I'd like to write about for this site, but am not quite ready to write about it now, I often jot down a brief outline of what an article might look like and save the file to my desktop. I tend to invest some time in thinking about the topic and, within a few days, write out a full article. Sometimes, though, I just can't seem to make an article...
Sick, Strange Comfort (09/06/06 - 12 Comments)
During the past few evenings I've been making my way through Suffering and the Sovereignty of God edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor. Based on last year's Desiring God National Conference, the book is set to release around September 19 and I'll have a full review of it before then. When I was at the conference last year, I can't deny that the speech given by Joni Eareckson Tada was not my favorite. Maybe...
Announcement: The Discipline of Discernment (09/01/06 - 40 Comments)
Several months ago I sat with my wife, discussing future goals and plans. I told her something she already knew: that I wanted someday to begin writing books. Writing runs in my blood and there are few things I enjoy more (though reading would have to come close). As evidenced by this blog, I have a great deal to say, even if I do not always say it particularly well. It made sense to me...
Enslaved (08/24/06 - 25 Comments)
Through the past week or so my wife and I have been working our way through the Extended Editions of the three The Lord of the Rings movies. I had seen Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers many times in the past, but had not yet had opportunity to watch the Extended Edition of The Return of the King. Aileen had seen only the theatrical editions of the first two. Three movies, each...
A Vehicular Retrospective (08/21/06 - 14 Comments)
I hate cars. While they are clearly a necessity, they are just as clearly evil. I guess that makes them necessary evils. I can't think of too many other significant investments in life that we purchase knowing full well that each time we use it, it will decrease in value. Every day the car becomes less and less valuable whether it drives around or sits in a parking lot. There is no joy in buying...
Little Sins (07/31/06 - 14 Comments)
The Pacific Campaign of the Second World War has always fascinated me. In many ways, it seemed like a nonsensical series of battles between the United States and Japan. As the Americans sought revenge for the devastation of Pearl Harbor, and as they sought to curtail Japanese aggression in the East, they fought their way across the Pacific Ocean, moving slowly and deliberately from island to island. Tiny, seemingly insignificant pieces of rock, jutting from...
One Thousand (07/27/06 - 17 Comments)
This is my 1000th consecutive day of blogging. This occasion has given me the opportunity to reflect on what blogging has meant to me over the past years and what I expect to see and do in the future. I hate writing about myself. It seems so prideful. So arrogant. So empty. I've long been inspired by the words of the great British preacher and philanthropist Andrew Reed who, when asked by his sons to...
What's Dead Looks Dead (07/14/06 - 65 Comments)
A couple of months ago I wrote about Tiazzi's last day. Tiazzi was our dog and, unfortunately, she began to lose her mind. Because her behavior was becoming increasingly erratic, we conferred with her veterinarian and decided that it would be best to put her down. It was a very difficult decision, but we are confident that we made the right choice. In order to help the children deal with the loss of the dog...
Ambivalence (07/11/06 - 42 Comments)
I continued in my reading of Jerry Bridge's The Discipline of Grace this morning. I am only a few chapters into the book and have already learned a great deal from it. Though it was written in 1994, it seems that I missed its first publishing and am glad to have discovered it after the second. The book flows logically from the groundwork laid in Bridge's classic The Pursuit of Holiness. In this book he...
Behold The King! (07/03/06 - 26 Comments)
I was thrilled several years ago to hear that the book The Lord of the Rings was going to be made into a series of epic films. With production budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars and the bulk of the work being done outside of Hollywood, I knew this series was going to be good! But more than being able to watch a great series of films, I was thrilled to know that...
Canada Day Reflections (07/01/06 - 8 Comments)
It has become customary that on July 1, Canada, I reflect, if only briefly, on my nation. Two years ago I wrote "On Canada Day and Kissing The Mailman." It was something of a mournful article in which I reflected on Canada's decision to elect the still-corrupt Liberal Party, despite years of waste, corruption and mismanagement. "This year, as I reflect on my country, I feel a bit like a man who has caught his...
I'd Like My City Back, Please (06/24/06 - 20 Comments)
It's a beautiful day in Toronto. Though it's a little bit overcast, it is still warm and bright. It's an almost perfect day to take in a ballgame. And, in fact, that was my plan. Once or twice a season I like to take my son down to the Rogers Center to watch the Bluejays play and today seemed ideal. The weather is great, so the roof of the stadium should be open, and yet...
Credo (06/23/06 - 56 Comments)
I believe in the Bible, that it is clear, complete, sufficient, true and without error. It says what it means. I do not demand that God speaks to me apart from it. I'm not waiting for still, small voices in my head or trying desperately to find God's will through random circumstances. I read, He speaks, I obey. Or I try anyways. I believe in the God of the Bible. I believe in a God...
Highway 5 (06/20/06 - 17 Comments)
We were blessed to have my parents spend this weekend at our home. They drove here from Atlanta on Friday and left again bright and early this morning. It was their first time seeing our new house and, more importantly, seeing their new grand-daughter. Because my dad is only truly resting when he is hard at work, I asked him to help me with several projects around the house. These were either projects that I...
The Cure For Envy (06/02/06 - 9 Comments)
It is healthy, I think, to reflect at times upon the evil of my heart. This seems like a terribly negative thing to do, but I believe it is an important discipline of my spiritual life that I seek to discover where evil lurks within my heart. There are some areas in my heart where, through God's grace, sin has been routed, pushed back. There are certain temptations that are no longer temptations and certain...
The Benefits of the Catechisms (04/19/06 - 40 Comments)
Catechisms were an important part of my life when I was a child. I grew up in a Reformed tradition that placed great value in the Catechisms. Some would argue they placed too great an emphasis on catechetical instruction. From a young age I was able to recite large portions of the Heidelberg Catechism and eventually learned every one of the questions and answers. Many of them are still fresh in my mind while others...
Routine (04/17/06 - 6 Comments)
I am a routine-based person. This has really only become clear to me over the past few weeks. I operate best when I am a routine. I have patterns and habits in life and, within these, I function quite well. When these patterns are disrupted, I tend to struggle. I would not have believed this about myself had it not been made obvious to me in the last few days and weeks. Case in point:...
A Valentine's Day Reflection (02/14/06 - 17 Comments)
"I think the holiday is total crap," says a newly married 27-year-old man from Greenwich, Connecticut. Leslie, 28, a single editor at Glamour magazine in New York agrees. "I really hate it. I think I always hated it, even when I had a boyfriend. I always felt that it was really hokey. I'm not a teddy bears and roses kind of person." "It's damned if you do and damned if you don't," says a 40-year-old...
A House or a Home? (02/02/06 - 8 Comments)
As you may know, Aileen and I just bought our first house. While we found the house quite quickly (as these things go), we first toured several towns and walked through fifteen or twenty houses looking for just the right one. As we toured house after house it quickly became apparent which homeowners had invested some extra effort in making their homes attractive to prospective buyers. I'm sure you have experienced what we did. Some...
Further Thoughts on a Faux Pas (02/01/06 - 15 Comments)
We have had some fun the past couple of days discussing whether or not it is rude for a person to ask himself (or his family) to another person's house. Opinion is divided but it seems that most people are siding with my wife and suggesting that I was rude to ask myself to a friend's house. I continue to disagree. But before I make this conversation serious, I wanted to point to a couple...
