It is my intention to primarily use email to update the participants in the Memorizing Scripture Together effort (click here to learn about the program). However, this morning I logged in to the software I use to send those emails only to find that it is down for maintenance until 9 AM tomorrow morning. And…
Yesterday I swung by Chapters, Canada’s answer to Barnes & Noble. It was actually the first time in a long while that I had been inside a real brick and mortar bookstore. Though I browse books on a near-daily basis through the internet, rarely do I actually go into a store. I had almost forgotten…
Over the past weeks I’ve had quite a few DVDs added to my collection and today I thought I’d offer brief reviews of some of the more notable selections. Every one of them is available from Vision Video. The Gladys Aylward Story he Torchlighters video series is a series of animated DVD’s dedicated to “Highlighting…
I posted an article like this one in the past and did so only with great trepidation. Yet today (during the lowest-traffic day of the year) I will do so again in the hope that you’ll be willing to give my motives the benefit of the doubt. I write about this not for my benefit…
The Call by Os Guinness is a book that was on my list of things to do for a long, long time before I actually settled down to read it. But once I got into it, I was amazed at just how much wisdom it contains. At one point Guinness discusses the importance of living…
Twilight is a phenomenon; or that is what I hear. I began to receive emails about it a short time ago and the requests for a review have increased as the release of the Twilight movie has approached. Strangely, I get more requests to review teenage fiction than any other genre. I usually reply with…
When I turned to the readers of this site and asked for questions I could answer or topics I could address, I noted (without much surprise) that many people were interested in the subject of reading. One person sought a basic “Why, what and how of reading Christian books.” Others sought advice on how to…
A few days ago I announced Memorizing Scripture Together–a program or effort dedicated to committing to memory passages and verses of Scripture. I had hoped to have at least thirty people agree to participate in the program. I was surprised and delighted to find that hundreds had signed up to participate. This shows, I think,…
Here is another prayer from The Valley of Vision. I think this one has somehow struck me deeper than any other in the book. This confession both shames and encourages me: “I am not yet weaned from all created glory, honour, wisdom, and esteem of others, for I have a secret motive to eye my…
The “Reading Classics Together” effort has taught me that blogs (even this blog) can offer a kind of excitement and accountability by community that helps me do things I wouldn’t otherwise have the discipline to do. And from what I hear, it works for some of you, too. Many of us would never have read…
This Sunday I’ll be preaching on the topic of Creation in an evening series at my church. Our Sunday evening format allows for only short sermons and I am trying to distill the broad topic of Creation down to the most fundamental points. I have no intention of defending Creation against evolution or of refuting…
Last week I solicited questions from the readers of this site, looking for good ideas for future blog posts. I received almost 100 responses, many of which asked really good questions. In the coming weeks and months I will attempt to answer many of them. I begin today with this one: “How do you discern…
I’m inviting you to read one of the classics of the Christian faith with me. Read on to find out more… To this point the “Reading Classics Together” effort has gone very well, at least in my opinion. Every week we’ve tackled together just a short portion of one of the classic texts of the…
I wanted A Visual History of the English Bible to be a standout. A book that I spied in a catalog and knew I just needed to read, it deals with a topic I love and in a way that is fresh and compelling. Few readers of the English Bible really understand the history of…
I have the privilege of preaching tonight on the topic of the Trinity. It seemed appropriate, then, that I would combine this topic with the prayers I often post on Sundays–prayers drawn from The Valley of Vision. This prayer is the first in the book and is known simply as “The Trinity.” What a great…
Yesterday, while reading a book about the history of the English Bible, I came across the story of John Rogers, a Bible translator who worked first with Tyndale and then independently after Tyndale’s death. It’s a story I’ve read before and one that is so powerful. Rogers was eventually arrested, tried, and found guilty of…
It was a couple of years ago now that I read George Marsden’s great biography of Jonathan Edwards. As I read it I was often stopped short by Edwards’ wisdom. Constantly surrounded by conflict, and often facing people who sought to undermine his ministry, Edwards had every opportunity to reflect on the task of a…
We made it! This marks the final reading in Jonathan Edwards’ The Religious Affections. I hesitated for a while before suggesting that we read a 380-page book together, but we did it. And what a read it was. My only real regret is that I feel like I have only skimmed the surface. In his…
I spent some time this morning writing an article for a magazine. They had requested a 600-word article on “What is the greatest hindrance to the gospel today?” I’ve found that articles like this pose a special kind of challenge to me. While I take time to write every day, far more often than not…
I eventually gave in to the pressure. I had seen Three Cups of Tea on the shelves of airport bookstores, in the hands of friends and on countless bestseller lists. I thought it was only right that, if so many people were reading it, I should read it too. And so, while browsing through one…