There are so many pleasures we experience as we live out our lives in this world. We have the pleasures that come with knowing and being known, the pleasures that come with beholding beauty, the pleasures that come with taste and touch and hearing. This world offers a cornucopia of pleasures to enjoy. And what…
I have just returned home from Louisville, Kentucky after dropping off my son for his freshman year at Boyce College. He is our eldest child, so the first to head to college. I’m sure someone tried to tell us just how hard it would be to drive away and leave him there, but wow, we…
Twenty years ago Aileen and I each woke up in our parents’ homes. Twenty years ago I walked into St. John’s Anglican Church through the side door while, a few minutes later, she walked in through the main doors. Twenty years ago we looked into each other’s eyes and said our “I do’s.” Twenty years…
This is my year of museums—of so many museums. If all goes according to plan, between January and December I will visit museums on every continent and in at least 15 different countries. In many of those places I will visit more than one. I’ve already been to so many that they are beginning to…
Over the past couple of years, I’ve written a number of articles under the heading “Sex on the Silver Screen.” In these articles I’ve been collecting my thoughts and expressing my concerns about an issue that I believe displays significant compromise among Christians today—our ambivalence toward watching scenes of explicit sexuality and nudity in movies…
We Christians spend a lot of time reading the Bible, hearing it preached, and meditating on its words. Why this commitment? We are committed to the Bible because of what it is and what it does. The Bible guides us to its purpose and power through the many metaphors it uses to describe itself. Here…
In recent days there has been much discussion and debate about how God speaks to his people. The conversation continues, and as it does so, I find myself looking back to the basics, returning to some key principles related to the voice of God. Let me share those with you through four statements. Statement one:…
I recently returned from a trip to Scotland. I was there first to conduct my research for my worldwide EPIC project and then to enjoy some vacation with my family. We traveled far and wide and saw from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye. We were blown away by the haunting beauty of Scotland, made…
As Christians, we set aside the first day of each week as a day of worship. We gather together as communities to worship God through what we call “church services.” One of the struggles we may encounter is related to doing roughly the same thing in the same way week after week. We may begin…
The Lord often works in mysterious ways. At least, he certainly has in my life, and this was exactly the case with my first real introduction to Charles Spurgeon. Of course I lived far too late to be introduced to him face-to-face, but I did come to know him through his sermons. Here’s how. It…
Porn existed before the digital era, though it was rarely spoken of and was relatively scarce. In these days it primarily took the form of images printed in magazines stashed in (and stolen from) the forbidden top rack in convenience stores. It seems quaint now, but in those days porn was something we only looked…
When people translate the New Testament from the original Greek language into modern English, they need to make decisions about how to best communicate the author’s intent. The translator doesn’t only ask “what words did he use?” but also “what did he mean to communicate to his readers?” In Philippians 1:27, most translators have made…
There was a time when believers often spoke of the Christian faith using military language. “Onward Christian Soldiers” may sound antiquated now, but not long ago it was known and loved. Yet martial language is quite common in the New Testament, and Paul relies on it to communicate key realities. He describes Christians as being…
A couple of weeks ago we received the news that another—yet another—well-known and highly-admired pastor had been removed from ministry after his elders learned he was involved in an extra-marital affair. Such incidents are all too common, though I suspect the frequency is related as much to the shrinking of the world as any great…
Last weekend we did a little rearranging of our basement which is also the home office where Aileen and I work every day. This rearranging involved moving some stuff out and moving some other stuff in. We had a rather large and heavy piece of equipment we needed to remove, so we placed an ad…
When I was a kid, my family once watched a movie that included vivid scenes of persecution against the earliest Christians. I remember lying awake at night, terrified by these images of Christians burning in the streets and being fed to the lions. I couldn’t help but imagine myself in the place of those beleaguered…
As I’ve traveled the world this year, I’ve been reading voraciously. Before I visit a country I try to read about its history—its key events, its key victories and failures, its key personalities. I’ve read complete histories of a number of the world’s great nations, as well a number of its lesser ones. As I’ve…
The Bible tells us that we are to live lives that are worthy of the gospel. Specifically, in Philippians 1 Paul tells the church, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.” I recently found myself reflecting on that word worthy. How can we actually live in a way that…
Spare the rod, spoil the child. It’s not exactly the wisdom of Solomon, but it’s not far off. Proverbs 13:24 echoes many of the other Proverbs when it says “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” Some Proverbs are difficult to discern, but this one…
Last week Aileen and I had the joy of attending our son’s high school graduation. Nick graduated as an Ontario Scholar, certified as bilingual in French and English. Now he gets six weeks of vacation before he heads south to Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky, to begin the next phase of his education. We are…