9 Marks Ministries has a great article about which is right: contemporary or traditional music. Too often when people write about this subject it stems from one of two opposite viewpoints. The first is that any type of contemporary music is evil. These are the people who relate stories about the children of missionaries being…
In past weeks I have been challenged by several fellow believers on my statements concerning some of the people I have written about on this site. In particular, people have questioned my views on Rick Warren and John Eldredge. Because of their impact on the evangelical church, I have written about each of these men…
Today marks an anniversary of sorts for this web site, for it was exactly one year ago that I decided to commit to writing on a daily basis. The last day I did not write anything was October 31, 2003. That means I have posted at least something for 365 consecutive days. I do believe…
Today marks the 487th anniversary of the day Martin Luther triggered what is surely one of the greatest acts of God’s grace in all of history when he nailed his ninety five theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Having become increasingly disillusioned with the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church,…
On a mailing list that I am part of, a person asked an interesting question, and one that I have come across before. As a matter of fact, I had been planning on writing about it for some time now, so thought this would be a good opportunity. Her question was about sin and whether…
I believe the extremely busy period of these past couple of weeks is just about over. While it was nice to be busy, I’ll be glad to be able to slow down a little bit next week. If I want to get through 50 books this year (a goal I set myself to begin the…
In the past 24 hours I have been able to launch two new Web sites. I love launching new sites. Often I have worked on them for hundreds of hours and have toiled over tiny pieces of code for days or even weeks. But then I get to launch them, see the final product, and…
A member of the community brought to my attention a beautiful message that Bryan Chapell, President of Covenant Theological Seminary, delivered at the funeral of Petros Roukas. Roukas was a pastor who, while suffering from depression, took his life. As I read Chapell’s message, I was struck by his tenderness towards his friend and towards…
I allowed myself a few minutes early this morning to think back about my school days, and in particular my closest friend during those days. This may or may not have been spurred by him registering a comment in the forums yesterday and subsequently sending me an email to announce the birth of his first…
My brother-in-law has a hilarious photo he is submitting to the Photo Friday challenge this week. Well, I think it’s hilarious anyways. The photo is of a note written by my mother who was acting in her grandmotherly position of scribe for my son. Nick was dictating the note on behalf of a store he…
We first met Mr. Tweedle a short while after his wife died. To make a bit of extra money he invited a young couple to come and live with him and those people, members of our church, eventually brought him with them on Sunday mornings. I don’t know if he was a believer or not.…
“Ramblings” represents a free pass to me. It’s kind of like a “Get out of jail free card.” On those days where I am either really busy, really lazy or completely uninspired (or all of the above), I can just sit back and write about whatever I feel like. Of course I only allow myself…
I have returned from my brief weekend excursion and am back in the comfort of my own home. I have long been what my mother would call a “home body” so I am always happy to come home to my office, my couch and best of all, my family. Of course I had a very…
Hello all! Tim left for the men’s conference yesterday, not very happily I might add. He really didn’t want to go. I’m half convinced it was because he didn’t want to miss blogging, despite his protest that he liked spending time with the family and didn’t want to go away for a whole weekend! It’s…
I am off at a conference today, so my wife is posting this for me. If you are reading this, it means she remembered what I taught her about Movabletype. It also indicates that she remembered to post at all! I told her I would be quite upset if she disturbed my streak of consecutive…
I am part of a Reformed mailing list that every now and then discusses something of interest. The list used to be quite busy, but recently there has been very little discussion, and much of what has been discussed has been quite boring (ie who would like to purchase old issues of a denomination-specific magazine).…
I spent nearly my entire young life attending Christian schools. From the first grade all the way to the eleventh, there was only one year where I did not attend a Christian school. During that time I also attended Catechism classes, Sunday school and everything else churches have to offer young people. In my younger…
Christianity Today has an interesting article entitled “Hail Mary” which traces the history of Marian devotion. It is quite short and makes for an interesting read. Here are the first few paragraphs: Mary responded in obedience. She called herself the Lord’s “handmaiden” (Luke 1:38, 48)—a humble title that set the tone for the rest of…
That’s right. Today, all the frozen tundras of the Great White North, Canadians are celebrating Thanksgiving. Where American Thanksgiving seems to serve as the beginning of the Christmas season, in Canada it serves as the unofficial beginning of autumn. The trees are just reaching the peak of their most beautiful colors, the last remaining birds…
Because I have taken a firm stand against The Purpose Driven Life and thus many of the principles of The Purpose Driven Church, it seems many people have become convinced that I am inherently opposed to purpose. This is not so. I believe purpose is a good and necessary thing. As believers purpose plays an…