#james spiegel

A La Carte (10/25)

The Things He Wanted to Do – John Piper writes about Steve Jobs. “The wisdom Steve Jobs learned, he said, was this: Do a couple things, and do them well. You don’t have time for much. And most of things are not lasting. So do two or three things, and do them amazingly. Not a bad lesson. In fact, really good—as far as it goes.” Judgment Houses – Russell Moore offers 7 reasons that judgment houses or hell houses completely …

A La Carte (11/30)

Cyber Monday Today is “Cyber Monday,” the day that online retailers come up with deals to try to rival what brick-and-mortar retailers offer on Black Friday. Here are a few deals I noted this morning: The big news at Amazon today is a great deal on the 8 GB iPod Touch. Today only it’s on sale for the lowest price you’re likely to see. Meanwhile they’ve got tons of other deals on a wide variety of products. MLB.com is offering …

Become a Patron

The Practice of Trust

Here is another excerpt from James Spiegel’s Gum, Geckos and God. This brief passage deals with how and why we trust God (or fail to trust God). The other day I was sitting in a faculty meeting, trying not to doze off during some committee reports. As I looked around, I mused over how much each of my colleagues understands about his or her discipline. It occurred to me that if there was a single mind that possessed all of …

Pilate’s Surprise

In the wake of The Passion of the Christ I have seen several discussions about why Pilate showed surprise that Jesus died so quickly. These discussions are based on the gospel of Mark where we read: Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked …

Truly This Was The Son of God

Every believer carries a measure of the guilt for Jesus’ death. If it were not for our willful disobedience to God’s perfect Law, we would have no need of a Savior. We acknowledge in song that it was our hands that drove the spikes into His’ and sometimes speak about driving the nails into Jesus’ hands every time we sin. We speak figuratively, of course, knowing that although we were not present at the time of His death, we bear …