A friend of mine told me about her recent experience in an airport security line. She was dutifully passing through the metal detector when she heard a beep and was told she would need the pat-down procedure. It is the right of the traveler to have that procedure performed by someone of the same gender…
Hearing the Voice of the Lord in Your Pastor’s Sermon “Reformed churches believe God still speaks. While we do not believe he speaks via the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we believe that via preaching God’s voice is as real and vital to us as it was through the mouths and pens of prophets and…
Books At a Glance is a Christian book summary service. We take the newest and most significant books that Christian publishers, such as Crossway, Zondervan, IVP, B&H, Baker, etc. publish, and then every week we take one or two of those books and condense them into a 7-10-page, chapter-by-chapter summary, so that you can learn…
This year I have been participating in the 2016 Reading Challenge, a fun way to increase and diversify your reading through another year. I took the challenge and set this year’s goal at 104 books. However, because so much of my reading has to go toward reviewing books that are recently published and of interest…
No Small Breaches John MacArthur explains that “integrity isn’t usually forfeited in a single moment of spectacular failure. Instead it’s slowly chipped away at by small compromises repeated over time, until the façade of righteousness collapses and the secret hypocrisy is exposed.” The Summer of Great Family Reads Redeemed Reader has suggestions for you and…
This week I received an unusual number of letters to the editor, most of them dedicated to two topics: Catholicism and ad-blockers. In both cases there were many who agreed with me and many who did not. And in every case I am grateful to those who wrote. I genuinely enjoy receiving these letters to…
Why Is Clinton Disliked? Yes, the question has to do with politics, but there is a bigger point we can all consider: “Even a socially good vocation can swallow you up and make you lose a sense of your own voice. Maybe it’s doubly important that people with fulfilling vocations develop, and be seen to…
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by Missional Wear which also sponsored the blog this week. They are offering 5 prizes this week with a bonus! Five winners will receive a $50 Gift Certificate towards any purchase. The bonus is open to everyone and they are giving away a completely FREE sticker, all that…
As a true son of Adam, a person born with a natural affection for sin, I have no shortage of opportunities to consider sin and to consider the desire to commit it in its infinite varieties. As a husband and father, a pastor, and a church member I have no shortage of opportunities to speak…
Eternity Etched On My Eyes This is a powerful bit of writing. “‘I’m so weak. I’m so weak. I’m so weak,’ I whispered from the floor where I lay in my room, overwhelmed with the ongoing pain day after day. I looked up at my nightstand where the little orange bottle sat containing the narcotic…
Last week I began a new series titled “Why I Am Not…” and in this series I am exploring some of the things I do not believe as a means to explaining what I do believe. In the last article I explained why I am not atheist and now want to explain why I am…
Actively Serving Christ in Older Age Here’s a challenge for all of us: “One of the characteristics that has always impressed me about highly committed servants of Jesus Christ is that they continue to actively serve Him to the very end of their lives. Long after others have retired from their vocations and various forms…
Let’s just get it out there: Online advertising is a mess. We understand that it is a necessity, but we despair at how ugly it has become. Like you, I hate visiting a website and having to deal with flashing, flickering, or inappropriate banner ads designed to distract me from what I am attempting to…
Devotional Theology I like the sound of this series: “From the fallible, presumptuous words of Jesus Calling to the dangerous practice of contemplative prayer, eager Christian women everywhere are desperately seeking to know God better. However, the one thing we’re lacking is the one thing that’s sitting right under our noses—the Word of God; and…
I love to learn the essentials, and once I have learned the essentials I love to return to them. As Christians we may and must learn more than the essentials, yet without ever outgrowing them, without ever losing our grounding in them. Every time I return to the essentials of the Christian faith I am…
The Hidden Hours of Ministry I’m looking forward to this series about the hidden hours of ministry. “The hidden hours lay the foundation for what happens publicly. The clamour of pastoral and teaching ministry can make it tempting to hold to public priorities, while neglecting more private responsibilities.” Ben Zobrist Is Reinventing Himself You’ll probably…
This sponsored post was prepared by Missional Wear. Still trying to figure out the perfect gift for a father or graduate in your life? Dads and grads are very special to us, however, they can sometimes be a tough crowd to shop for. They aren’t always vocal about what they want or have a tendency…
What’s a parent to do? We know that God tells us to raise our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord—we get that. But what does that actually look like? How can we flesh out that simple framework? I was recently reading through 1 Thessalonians and once again came to one of my…
Do Biological Facts No Longer Matter? I am always interested in Nancy Pearcey’s take on contemporary issues. “The Darwinian worldview implies that the cosmos is merely a vast amoral machine. It reduces the human body to a lump of matter, a collection of atoms and molecules, not intrinsically different from any other chance configuration of…
Today I’ve got a new batch of letters to the editor. Some weeks I get many and some weeks I get few. This week was somewhere right in the middle, I think. Here we go! Comments on A Call for Plodding Bloggers There was quite a response to my call for plodding bloggers which showed…