Skip to content ↓

On Vacation

I’m on vacation this week–not the kind of vacation where we all jump in the car and drive to warmer parts of the continent, but the kind of vacation that allows me to just stay around the house and do what I love to do–hang out with the family and read good books. I guess they now call this a staycation. I’m on a serious history kick these days, reading biographies and histories of World War 2. Great stuff. As much as I enjoy reading all the Christian books, I still love to read history most of all. Michael Korda’s Hero was a fantastic biography of an eccentric British war hero while Berlin at War is essentially the biography of the city during the Second World War. I’m also slowly working my way through John Keegan’s The Second World War, the first general history I’ve read in quite a few years.

Obviously, unlike my last vacation, this is not a digital vacation like I took last summer where I headed to the middle of nowhere, far away from cell towers and Internet and other trappings of a digital world. But I am trying to be on the computer less, to check email less, and so on. Because that allows me to be more fully present with my family.

Yesterday I took the family to see the movie Tangled in 3D. It was a good one–lots of fun and without all the subtle (or not-so-subtle) adult humor that’s become a part of too many kids’ movies. The 3D was well-done; far better than it was in Up which is, I believe, the last one we saw in 3D. They charged us $10 to see the movie and that price included the glasses. At the end they encouraged us to recycle the glasses so we could do our bit for the environment. I decided to keep mine just out of spite for the prices they charge us. Whenever I go to a movie I find it hard to believe that they can actually convince me to part with $23 in exchange for 2 bags of popcorn and 2 cups of Coke, which all together can’t cost them more than $0.50. It’s depressing.

As for the rest of the week, we really do not have a lot of plans. We’ll mostly just hang around the house, I think, taking it easy. And that sounds awfully good to me.


  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (September 19)

    A La Carte: John Piper on brokenhearted boldness / Why didn’t Jesus defeat the Romans? / How do spiritually mature Christians handle suffering? / Is owning the libs a justification for lying? / Enjoying the beauty of prayer / and more.

  • I Am No Hero

    Lowest and Last of All

    The day will come when every man will stand before the Lord and be asked to give an account of his life. God makes clear the basis of this coming judgment: he “will render to each one according to his works.”

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (September 18)

    A La Carte: What if no one prayed for you? / How to pray when you feel like you can’t / Is that person male or female? / “If one member suffers…” / Ideas for better conversations / Huge Kindle sale / and more.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (September 17)

    A La Carte: Who’s afraid of Romans 1? / You can only be what you can see / Are you a pastor who hurts people? / A holy life is the seed of evangelism / Thinking biblically in all areas of life / and more.

  • Shadow, Stream, and Scattered Beam Apologetics

    This week the blog is sponsored by Zondervan Reflective. This is an excerpt from Thaddeus Williams’ latest book on living out a radically God-centered systematic theology entitled Revering God: How to Marvel at Your Maker (Zondervan Reflective, 2024), featuring stories of Christian thinkers like Michael Horton, Fred Sanders, Joni Eareckson-Tada, John Perkins, Vishal Mangalwadi, and…

  • Did the Angels Laugh

    Did the Angels Laugh?

    You’ve got to hand it to the chief priests and Pharisees: They did their best. They did their level best to keep Jesus in his tomb. After successfully overseeing his execution, they remembered that he had not only predicted his death but also spoken of some kind of resurrection. Wanting to make sure his disciples…