• Relationships & Peacemaking

    Evaluating Organizations

    Recently, at one of my booktables, a woman asked me about a certain ministry. Apparently, she had met some people who were affiliated with this organization and they just despised it. They thought it was a “cult” and “intrusive” and boy! They just didn’t have anything good to say about it. The woman was careful in her speech and seemed very winsome and genuine in simply seeking to be wise re: seeking my opinion and thoughts about this organization. I told her my best understanding of the people leading it; the theology that it espouses; and my experience of the resources that it produces. But I also told her this:…

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Henry Alford (HT: JollyBlogger & Pyromaniacs)

    Wow. There is just SO much I don’t even know ANYTHING about! Do you know of this great man: Henry Alford? I sure didn’t. But I want to learn more about him. Apparently he was brilliant–but listen to just one paragraph describing him (emphasis added): “Nor was he merely an arid academic. When he was sixteen, Alford wrote in his Bible, “I do this day, as in the presence of God and my own soul, renew my covenant with God, and solemnly determine henceforth to become His, and to do His work as far as in me lies.” He was known for his consistent and holy life, as well as…

  • Uncategorized

    Daily Devotional Recommendations?

    A recent blog commenter asked me if I had any recommendations for a good daily devotional book … and I thought I’d pitch the question up to a real post and ask for your advice too. What daily devotional books would you recommend as being particularly encouraging and edifying in your walk with the Lord? We have been reading John Piper’s Taste and See in our family’s devotions and that’s been a blessing to us. And I’ve been (off and on) reading A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Daily Meditations from His Letters, Writings, and Sermons. It’s great.   Ed Welch’s latest book, Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of…

  • Uncategorized

    What is your hope?

    Recently, a young woman approached me for counsel regarding something that had happened to her years earlier. I don’t know all of the details, but the little I know indicates that some things that were COMPLETELY out of her control had brought some severe suffering into her life and the lives of others. But also? Some things in the situation, she undoubtedly had a CERTAIN amount of influence and responsibility for. (Isn’t that often the case in life?) Anyway … for years, she has been CRUSHED by guilt and she feels as though she “just can’t get over it.” She asked me: “What if it’s MY fault? What if I…

  • Sin & Repentance

    The Apologetic of the Apologist (HT: rzim!)

    Don’t miss today’s Slice of Infinity from Dr. Ravi Zacharias: The Apologetic of the Apologist I’ll tempt you with just a few lines … “A starting point for taking on the responsibility of the work of Christian apologetics is recognizing the role that living out a disciplined Christian life plays. Even a brief examination of the Scriptures reveals this striking imperative: one may not divorce the content of apologetics from the character of the apologist … I have always found this to be such a fascinating verse because the apostle Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, knew the hazards and the risks of being an answer-bearer to the…

  • Sin & Repentance

    Rejoicing even in the bone-breaking …

    Traveling home through four airports this morning, I’ve been enjoying Spurgeon’s Encyclopedia of Sermons. Not in any sort of systematic, academic way, mind you … but just topically. I’m reading on things that are of particular interest to me at this time in my life. This morning I read Pastor Spurgeon’s exposition of Psalm 51 because I’ve been thinking a lot about repentance lately. He writes: “Psalm 51:8. Make me to hear joy and gladness … How late in the Psalm that prayer comes! He writes seven verses before he dares to pray for joy and gladness; and those seven verses are all either confessions of sin or petitions for…