Gaining a heart of wisdom
It's a delightful alchemy that takes geography and the events of historical context, and then blends in the like-mindedness and the variations of two distinct personalities. Common enough, this is the science of friendship that is traced and recorded by Randy Petersen in The Printer and the Preacher because, every once in a while, the melding of a friendship has historical impact,… Continue reading Ben and George: The Friendship that Invented America
. . . dangerous, reckless, irrational, absurd, shocking, rare, and surprising. These are not the labels normally associated with the word "grace," but Tullian Tchividjian would say that this is because our idea of grace is too tame. In One Way Love, he begins a conversation about the love of God that pulverizes the church's… Continue reading Drastic, Gratuitous, Liberating, Scandalous
What do you call a dentist who cleans an alligator's teeth? That's a great question to ponder on a car trip or a plane ride or a lazy, rainy Saturday, and it's just one of the many jokes and riddles found in Rob Elliot's and Jonny Hawkin's latest collaboration for kids: Laugh Out Loud Pocket… Continue reading Creativity and Fun in Your Pocket
To the already stunning list of monikers on the Dietrich Bonhoeffer resume -- pastor, martyr, spy, author, faithful brother -- Paul R. House has added another: theological educator. In Bonhoeffer's Seminary Vision, the author has fulfilled the promise of his subtitle by making A Case for Costly Grace in higher theological education, but there is… Continue reading A Higher Education
I have read Elisabeth Elliot's A Lamp for My Feet at least a half dozen times in the past twenty years, but turned to it again at the outset of 2015. Like an old friend, its words are familiar to me, and my copy is underlined and dog-eared and covered with scrawled verse references. It's a simple… Continue reading Reflections from the Lamp: Remembering Elisabeth Elliot
Reading Hebrews 11 reminds me that today's "yes" to God is a ripple in the pond of generations. The #livefree Thursday prompt today is "whisper yes." I'm blessed by the record of others' obedience to God, and challenged to add my "yes" to the choir of faithful followers. // In the age of Twitter and… Continue reading Another Generation of Anything
People have a tendency to view the population of the world on a continuum. Everyone whose ideas and opinions are to the left of mine is, by definition, "a liberal," and is to be most conscientiously converted to my way of thinking. Everyone whose ideas and opinions place them to the right of me on this imaginary… Continue reading Lonely on the Pinnacle of Truth
Character development is my favorite part of reading a book, whether it's a work of fiction, a biography, or an historical account. The individual's motivation, inner dialogue, sense of humor, use of language, and interaction with other characters is fascinating to observe. In Empire's End, Jerry Jenkins has taken on the challenge of melding a… Continue reading Rounding Out the Narrative
My faith unraveled at a Christian college. I know that’s not the way it’s supposed to happen, and I can remember wishing that a hostile, atheistic professor had bludgeoned me into my doubts with brilliantly irrefutable arguments. It would make for a much better story. Instead, the truth is I just got numb. The constant… Continue reading Finding the Way Forward
I wasn't born yesterday, so I could see it coming. The family lawn mowing business has been getting bigger every year, giving rise to spin-offs where, one after the other, the boys have bought their own equipment, found their own customers, and moved on, leaving . . . yup. She who used to just make… Continue reading I Love You Mow-er Every Year!
Living Our Days 