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Why Did God Ordain that Evil Be?
From Jonathan Edwards: “It is a proper and excellent thing for infinite glory to shine forth; and for the same reason, it is proper that the shining forth of God’s glory should be complete; that is, that all parts of his glory should shine forth, that every beauty should be proportionably effulgent [=radiant], that the beholder may have a proper notion of God. It is not proper that one glory should be exceedingly manifested, and another not at all. . . Thus it is necessary, that God’s awful majesty, his authority and dreadful greatness, justice, and holiness, should be manifested. But this could not be, unless sin and punishment had…
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Bible Study DVD?
Wow! I just found out that one of my 2007 events MIGHT be able to videotape my teaching … And they are interested in possibly producing (or helping me to prepare a proposal for the production of) DVDs of me teaching the “Peacemaking Women” material. What do you think? Might this be a helpful resource? If so — would you please join me in praying the Lord’s will to be done? (Oh–and THANKS AGAIN to this amazing 2007 event. You know who you are! And whether or not this video-thing turns out, you have already blessed my socks off. I always LOVE it when I get emails from you.)
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Prayer as Love
A few thoughts from Ajith Fernando: In Christianity love is an end and not just a means to an end. That is, we don’t love only because we want to achieve something through that loving. Loving itself is an achievement. When we teach or train someone our aim is primarily not to help someone pass an exam well or do brilliantly in sports. True, those are legitimate aims, but they are not primary aims. If we work like that, we won’t be able to help Jesus in the forms that he comes to us as described in the parable of the sheep and the goats. There he comes as a…
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Uh-Oh! She’s MAD at me!
Yesterday was my last day before our trip to run errands and try to get organized. I was doing pretty well until I had to swing by and ask a friend for a favor. I thought I had set everything up in advance and it was going to be no big deal … but do you ever have a conversation where the hair on your neck is standing up and you can almost feel the adrenaline charging the air? That was what happened to me. My heart was racing as I left and I was concerned for hours (as I continued to go to appointments and hop in and out…
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A Comment on My “Big Questions” Post
Do you remember my previous post on “big life questions for the Barthel family” like why are we here; where are we going; what is God calling us to do; is it time to move or should we stay where we are, etc. etc.? Well, I received a number of personal notes in response, but one of them had some thoughts and ideas that I thought you might find particularly interesting/helpful, so I’ve copied them here. I’d love to hear your thoughts too. 🙂 Hope you enjoy! Yours, Tara B. From TS: “Wow. . .considering big changes (maybe)? I started to respond in the comments, but it was getting ridiculously…
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Ajith Fernando Reflects on 30 Years of Ministry
If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you’ve undoubtedly read many an entry inspired by one of my favorite authors and theologians: Ajith Fernando of Youth for Christ Sri Lanka. (If you do not know this man or prayerfully support his ministry, I urge you to do so! He truly is a hero of the faith.) Recently, his supporters received a wonderful letter that he wrote reflecting on his 30th anniversary with Youth for Christ. I would copy the entire letter here except that I think it would be a tad unwieldy because of the length. So here are a few excerpts from the fourteen points he…
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(Comment on) “Good Point!”
I recently heard from Emily in a comment on my previous post (“Good Point!”) and thought that you all might enjoy reading our exchange too. From Emily: “It’s me again! This entry hit home for me this morning. I am struggling with a person in exactly the same way–and this person is NOT someone whom I can avoid. Argh. It is a daily battle for me to think kind thoughts toward this person, and to pray blessings on this person. I actually find myself wanting God to mete out justice, and punish this person! My heart is so deceitful. Right now, I keep asking God, “Do I have to enjoy…
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Good Point
The other day I was encouraging a friend who was struggling to be even moderately respectful to a certain person. Normally, this friend is cheerful, warm, gracious, and friendly—even to annoying people. (In fact, she was the person who taught me the phrase, ‘Don’t let stupid people make you stupid.’ That is—let it go. Don’t even burn any minutes off of your life by hyper-adrenalating your heart with the emotions of anger or frustration.) But this ONE person REALLY BUGGED HER. I am a LOT. So there I was reminding her of the very things SHE had taught me over the years—but she was still stuck. And then she said…
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Dr. Nichols’ ‘Heaven on Earth’
Well, I just started the latest book by Dr. Stephen J. Nichols: ‘Heaven on Earth: Capturing Jonathan Edwards’s Vision of Living in Between.’ So far, it’s fantastic! Just like the book I recently raved about (‘How People Change’), this book is a great reminder of just how far we have to go in learning, ‘how to live in between our coming to Christ and our going home to heaven.’ I could very much relate to his descriptions of both those of us who ‘live in monasteries of [our] own making, safe within the shelter of its walls’ (i.e., our heavenward focus ‘distracts us from the path that is before us…
