By grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone
Many Christians (myself included) have wondered how a non-Christian navigates life amidst the ups, downs, heartaches, and disappointments of the human condition. The word insurmountable comes to mind. So do the words loneliness and pointless. Yet many seem to manage, or do they? Life can smack hard across the face at times. Imagine not having […]
Not far from and not long out of Egyptian chains, Israel began to grumble. They remembered their meat pots and leeks but seemed to forget their fetters (Exodus 16). So, they complained, something they would become quite good at. And God, in His mercy and provision, sent them bread from heaven (manna). It arrived in […]
Time for a thought experiment. And I am serious about it. I want you to consider a “what if?” A little over a year ago, we reopened our church doors. We were told to keep them shut. But ten weeks of that was enough. God was to be worshiped, not from a couch but from […]
The wall was old. How old, few knew. It was there. It had been there for years. It was taken for granted. It kept the bad out. It provided security for those on the inside. That was good, for it was dangerous times. But the binary categories of good and bad had fallen on hard […]
Jonah is a Sunday School favorite. How can he not? The hesitant prophet. Swallowed by a great fish. Thrown up on the shore. Preaches to Ninevites. A great repentance ensues. Despite having an attitude when the wicked city repents, Jonah is celebrated. Lots of kids are named after him. But what about Nahum? “Na-who,” you […]
The church cannot fight a culture war without a culture. We must have something “in here” for us to successfully engage “out there.” What is it we must have? First and foremost is a robust, weighty, and substantive Sunday morning worship. O, and it needs to be joyful, too. This is where the knot is […]
Time to revisit Narnia. In that wonderous land where Aslan roared, animals talked. Not all of them, those from adjacent lands were…well…animals. And not all animals in Narnia bowed their knee to the Great Lion, either. In book four (Prince Caspian), sisters Lucy and Susan are speaking with one another. Lucy begins: “Such a horrible […]
Where are we headed? We certainly seem to be on a dry and bumpy backroad somewhere. We left the interstate and we did some time ago. Can we get back there? We can. There are road signs. And there is even a map. But to be able to return, something must happen first. There needs […]
People will call this a political blog. I will deny that if they do. If you need a category, let’s call it theological. It is a cry for Christians to think. It is an appeal for followers of Jesus to reason biblically. It is a plea for the redeemed to consider the weight of God’s […]
Did you read The Wind in the Willows to your kids? Or do you remember it from your youth? As I recall, Lynn read it to our children in the car while on longer trips. I would catch parts of it here and there. The story concerns the friendship of four animals who live on the […]
“We believe that God has ordained various governments among men,” says our Statement of Faith. “The three basic governments are civil government, church government, and family government. All…working in individuals to bring about self-government.” If asked to summarize each of their responsibilities, how would you respond? C.S. Lewis answered this way regarding the civil government. […]
Let me provide some visuals. The latest Apple phone has just come out. Lines are out the door and around the block, hundreds of would-be customers hoping to get to the front before the last one is sold. The Seahawks are in the play-offs. Season ticket holders have gobbled up most of the seats but […]