Immediately prior to the Together for the Gospel Conference, I had the opportunity to be part of a panel discussing issues pertaining to blogging. In the days following I mentioned on my blog that, due to the brevity of the occasion, I did not have the chance to address some of the “soapbox” issues pertaining…
It seems that life is filled, at almost every turn, with trials and difficulties. Some of these times of trail are light while others are terribly weighty. Strangely, some of these trials are caused by times of great joy while others are caused by great pain. The birth of a child can prove to be…
King for a Week is an honor I bestow on blogs that I feel are making a valuable contribution to my faith and the faith of other believers. Every week (or so) I select a blog, link to it from my site, and add that site’s most recent headlines to my left sidebar. While this…
The recent edition of Time Magazine features “The People Who Shape Our World.” Time has created a list of 100 men and women whose power, talent or moral example, they feel, is transforming our world. It is important to note, before we take a peek at this list, that it is not really the world…
I promised yesterday that today I would have a big announcement. Well here it is. I am announcing the launch of a new web site. Well, a new/old web site. You may remember a site called Discerning Reader. Once a very popular and well-regarded site, it ran into all sorts of trouble, the details of…
Christians are anticipating The Da Vinci Code movie with a mix of expectation and dread. The expectation is based on knowing that Jesus’ name will be, at least for a short time, on many tongues. This may create opportunities to discuss Him with friends, family neighbors and co-workers. The dread is based on the knowledge…
On the thirteenth of April, one week ago, John MacArthur was invited to be a guest on Larry King Live. I have lost track of the number of times that MacArthur has been asked to participate in King’s show, but it seems that when King needs a person to defend traditional, biblical Protestantism, he calls…
The first job I ever had was delivering the Markham Economist & Sun, a small newspaper headquartered in a suburb of Toronto. I received no training, nor did I need any. On the day I began the job I was given a canvas bag, a large stack of newspapers and a list of houses that…
Stuart Derbyshire, a senior psychologist at Britain’s University of Birmingham says that pain is subjective. “Pain is something that comes from our experiences and develops due to stimulation and human interaction. It involves concepts such as location, feelings of unpleasantness and having the sensation of pain. Pain becomes possible because of a psychological development that…
As you may know, immediately prior to the Together for the Gospel Conference, there will be a meeting by and for bloggers. Timmy Brister, who has served as the organizer for this event, has called it “T4G: Band of Bloggers.” While the topic has not yet been finalized, it will be revolve around blogging, the…
Every Friday morning, before the sun rises, I get together with a couple of friends for a time of fellowship. We have been reading through and discussing Os Guinness’ book The Call. We are currently nine chapters in and are finding that, even if the book is a little frustrating at times as it seems…
Why is it that when a person is looking for a house, driving slowly down a darkened street straining to see the numbers on the fronts of the homes or on the mailboxes at the end of the driveways, he automatically turns down the car radio? He does so because he instinctively knows that music…
Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading is the second of a five-part series of books being written by Eugene Peterson who is best known as the translator of The Message. This series of books comes in the twilight years of Peterson’s career as author, pastor and translator, and it allows…
Yesterday morning in church we sang a song I knew from the album “Songs For The Cross Centered Life” but had never had the privilege of singing during a worship service. The song was “I Come By The Blood” by Steve and Vikki Cook. It is quite a recent song, but one whose expression of…
Until yesterday it had been quite a while since I had written about worship. I had forgotten what a difficult and even contentious issue it is within the church. I guess, at least to some extent, it has always been this way. The issue of music brings out both the best and the worst in…
The most recent issue of Christianity Today features a short article by Chuck Colson entitled “Soothing Ourselves to Death” which, if you are so inclined, you could read by clicking here. Colson contends that “much of the music being written for the church today reflects an unfortunate trend–slipping across the line from worship to entertainment.…
There’s a sucker born every minute. Bob Ross thinks I’m one of them. Last week I posted an article defending the need for Christians to prepare themselves for the Da Vinci Code movie, but for their own sake and for the sake of their neighbors. Bob responded to this: There is some dispute about whether…
A few months ago I signed up for Bob Ross’ email updates. I don’t know much about the guy, but I believe it was Phil Johnson who recommended his writings. Phil wrote, “He’s a prolific writer of passionate commentary on just about everything, ranging from serious theological aberrations to little things that just get under…
Every March I read Proverbs. I’m not sure how this tradition came about, but I always look forward to it. Over the past few days I have been finishing up the book, reading those meaty chapters near the end. I was struck by the constant, ongoing, application to my own life. I began to think…
This little devotional, which I wrote partially a couple of years ago and finished this morning, was primarily for my own benefit. It was inspired initially, as I recall, by reading John Piper’s book Desiring God. I can almost never bring myself to buy greeting cards. When it is Aileen’s birthday, I either tell her…