I am really enjoying Piercing Heaven, a wonderful collection of Puritan prayers. Here is one that seems especially suitable for a Sunday evening. Holy and eternal Lord, I confess those many weaknesses and imperfections which I have been guilty of today. I call on you for the pardon and forgiveness of my sins. I have…
Not many of us get to die the way we wished. But my dad did. A man of the earth, he had a great passion for plants, a love for flowers and trees and all manner of flora. He saw the beauty in each of them, the unique promise every one held to make this…
A recent book titled Piercing Heaven shares favorite prayers from the Puritans. Many of them are amazing prayers. As an example, here is Joseph Alleine praying for the salvation of the lost. O Lord, how insufficient I am for this work. With what will I pierce the scales of Leviathan—or make my heart, hard as…
For the past couple of weeks my RSS feeder has been humming with list after list of the best books of 2019 (or, if not the best, the favorite books of 2019). It seems that just about every avid reader I follow is eager to share his or her picks for the year that was.…
Yesterday morning my father sent a quick email to ask if he could call me later that evening—he wanted to hear about my experiences in Africa, I’m sure. Yesterday afternoon my sister made a tearful phone call to say that she had found him unconscious and unresponsive. There was nothing she or the paramedics could…
On Saturday I returned home from a lengthy overseas trip and thought I’d share a few notes about what I saw and experienced along the way. While the original and primary purpose of the visit was to get to northern Zambia to speak at a conference for pastors and church leaders, it turned into an…
I do not often run guest articles on this site. But every now and again I do make an exception—usually for my friend Paul Carter. In this case, he is going to suggest a great way to turn a retired Bible into a precious family heirloom. What follows is from Paul… If you are a…
I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon. Just before a new piece of camera equipment gets released to the public, it often gets sent to the camera stores so they can review it. This being the 21st century, they tend to create YouTube reviews of that product and invariably recommend it in the most positive terms. And…
It is inevitable that pastors and other church leaders will face criticism. Some critics will be well-intentioned while others will be bent on destruction; some will be attempting to do the right thing (even if in a ham-fisted way) while others will be attempting to wreak havoc. Yet the prideful and troubling temptation can be…
The early chapters of Proverbs provide a vivid description of an encounter between a pathetic, foolish young man and a wily, adulterous woman. “At the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing…
Around fourteen years ago, Aileen and I bought our first home. We had been searching all over our town and all over the other towns nearby, looking for just the right place. We couldn’t find it. They were all too big or too expensive or too far from where we wanted to be. Where we…
It was with sorrow but not surprise that I read a recent article at Risen Motherhood. In The Gospel Frees Us From Shame: Embracing Sexual Intimacy with a Postpartum Body, Lauren Washer writes about an experience that’s common among women who have given birth to one or more children. “I never thought my feelings toward…
Today I am announcing an exciting new project that I think will prove a blessing to you and a blessing to Christ’s church. But in order to make it possible, I am going to need your help. Over the coming months, I hope to write a book and shoot a video series that will give…
It’s probably one of the most common and commonly-missed errors Christians make when speaking about the Bible—they call the final book of the Bible “Revelations” instead of “Revelation.” The difference is subtle—a single “s.” Yet that little letter, in its own way, changes the very nature of the book. It matters. It matters because it’s…
It was quite a long time ago that I wrote an article about sleepovers, explaining why my family chose to just say “no” to allowing our children to stay over with friends. Though this sometimes upset or angered our children, and just as often upset or angered their friends’ parents, we stuck to it as…
Some churches sing only old songs—they rely on the great hymns of the faith and add newer selections on only the rarest of occasions. Some churches only sing new songs—they rely on their own songwriters or the Christian top-40 and sing older selections on only the rarest of occasions. I am convinced there is value…
In 1544, Heinrich Bullinger was pastoring in Zurich when he and his colleagues there fell afoul of Martin Luther—hardly the first or the last to do so. Luther had written another treatise against their view of the Lord’s Supper and had employed his too-typical fire. Bullinger wrote John Calvin in nearby Geneva to ask his…
Children owe honor to their parents. Parents have the right to expect and demand honor and even to extend discipline to children who fail to give it, for God himself commands “Honor your father and your mother.” When children are young, this honor is shown especially in obedience—they are to submit to the authority of…
Over the past few weeks writing has been tough. I don’t think this is anything more than the natural ebb and flow of the writer’s life—there are moments where the words come easily and moments where they seem locked inside. Recently, they have seemed locked within my mind, so even though I’ve got ideas, it…
A few days ago I asked “Do We Care for the Sheep or Do We Use the Sheep?,” and expressed concern that pastors may be prone to neglect caring for the people in their churches in favor of using the people in their churches to fulfill personal ambition. The pastor’s calling is to care for…