“So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil.” Solomon’s Methods.. A few years ago, I approached a friend of mine (let’s call him “Bill”) who was just about to retire from public school administration after 30 years in the field. He was planning to spend the first two months..
I try to start my day in an ancient text. I scold myself if my mind wanders, because I’m trying to treat it with at least the reverence I give Scottish shortbread. I’m trying to savor the stuff—even when the words feel dry and tasteless. The point isn’t just to read, but to think, and..
In Defense of Empire Rand Paul and his pops, should be applauded for defending the Constitution, but thoroughly scolded for lamenting a better way. Newsflash, folks: some ideas are better than others. The term “Arab Spring” might invoke an image of fragrant grains blooming in a once parched desert and a luxury Hilton opening its..
Fooled you. This is NOT about sex. This is about people who call themselves “believers” and only appear to have a very thin thread of actual scripture in their mental wardrobe. They quote the same verses over and over and over again. If the Bible were clothing, they would be wearing a G string. In..
You won’t hear scripture quoted very much, over Sashimi in Santa Monica or among biscuit nibblers at the Yale Club in Manhattan; the words of the Bible make the well heeled and the hip look away, awkwardly, as though you were trying to sign them up for a multi-level marketing program. They see scripture as..
I copped out a bit in my last blog about sex and the Fifty Shades thing, because I called for “a frank, celebratory discussion” — and then proceeded not to have one. Sex is just difficult to talk about, but I’m going to talk about it, because I’m tired of the Godless scum hogging the..
A young member of our fellowship wanted to know how she could better engage with the Word. My wife, in her reading plan, is walking ponderously, with long suffering, through the book of Job. Having conquered Numbers, quite a few times, I’m always a little chagrined to remember there are quite a few more..
Believe it or not, the older I get, the more tender I feel about young and/or weak believers, all full of zeal for God. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to let gross legalisms go uncontested, and when you get in that contest, it usually goes something like this: “This nation needs more..
I confess. I find the Doug Phillips story morbidly fascinating. The picture of a home school dad caught at the bedroom window of a young woman not his wife, in the middle of the night, claiming he was delivering her paycheck. My classical education fails me. Is this Greek tragedy, or farce? I find..
How I came to understand Christmas Even as a child, I was attracted to university catalogs and course guides. It was a nerdy obsession, to be certain, but it promised such a rosy menu of options. Colleges had a way of wrapping up an entire lifetime for you, in gift paper: Take Economics 101, then..
