By grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone
As parents, there are times we must discipline our children. The Scriptures speak to this often, especially in the Proverbs (Prov. 13:24, 22:15, 23:13-14, 29:15, and 29:17). Undisciplined children don’t bring much joy to anyone and will find it difficult to navigate life even when older. A faithful parent disciplines directly. That is, he uses […]
When I was young, our family piled in our Suburban for a week’s vacation somewhere. I loved orange soda at the time. The details are foggy, but I remember sitting in the back seat with my own two-liter bottle of Orange Spot. As we chugged down the road, I chugged down my soda—all of it. […]
Pencil and Eraser worked well together, most of the time that is. They needed each other but sometimes they forgot. Pencil was good at communication—filling up a page was no problem. Pencil could say things that would make people laugh. Pencil could say things that could make people cry. Pencil could instruct, motivate, and encourage. […]
The Episcopalians were in the midst of their orthodox U-turn in the 90’s; they were chucking out doctrine left and right. I recently discovered some humor that floated around some Episcopalian forums and blogs at the time. Self-proclaimed conservative Episcopalians were asking one another, “What do we do now?” The story below was no doubt […]
It was a nice family; a mom, a dad, a son, and a daughter. Mom and Dad thought they always would have a larger family, but they were thankful for the two children God had given them. Then, unexpectedly, Mom got pregnant. Dad had a nephew who needed a home. Son had a friend who […]
Anybody ever come up to you and say: “Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you”? Anybody ever come up to you after church and say: “God is really among you”? The first statement from an unbeliever to a believer comes from the public square and is from Zechariah […]
The U.S. Religion Census just came out with their once-every-ten-year numbers trekking religious involvement state by state. A decade ago, the state of Washington placed 49th (one position ahead of Oregon—we can’t beat them in football but we can beat them to the pew on Sunday morning). In 2000, 33% of our population claimed religious […]
I was so excited to get my first check, after all, I didn’t even own a bed. Rent was $525. When you divide that by the other five (all of us buddies who had just graduated from Pacific Lutheran University) each share was just $87.50 per month. But when you were just starting out, every […]
I enjoy reading our paper’s “Letters to the Editor.” It provides a snapshot of what’s going on out there—a window into society’s soul. But one of this morning’s editorials (TNT, 2-29) provided a window into the soul of a local, mainline church. And I, for one, did not enjoy the view. The editorial was entitled: […]
Jeremiah had a difficult gig. He was a priest and prophet during the days leading up to Judah’s demise and deportation by Babylon in 586 BC. Most of his sermons and prophecies concerned the impending doom. As a result, he was unpopular: “I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; […]
Do you know that you gave $1 to an abortionist this year? And without your consent, that dollar was used to kill a baby. How so? Planned Parenthood received $363 million dollars this past year of taxpayer funding. We are a nation of 312 million people. Do the math and each of us actually gave […]
“Ouch,” cried Toe. “That’s the second time this morning you’ve been stubbed,” responded Elbow. “What’s your problem?” “I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing,” informed Toe, “walking when I’m supposed to be walking. Why didn’t Eye tell me to stop?” “He’s not around,” Elbow said, “something about being tired.” “Tired? Doesn’t he know we […]