I’ve spent the last year adjusting to a leadership position where there are so many little things demanding attention and so many trivial topics clamoring for discussion that it’s frighteningly easy to neglect the things that matter most. I don’t yet know if most of life is like this. I anticipate that this temptation is present everywhere, … More The Things That Matter Most
Tonight began the first of many end-of-the-year goodbyes to some precious people in my life. These are people I love very dearly. I am and will be deeply saddened to see them leave. Over the past several years I have found myself often summarizing the Lord’s blessings on my life by saying that I am rich in … More Closer Than a Brother
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). I think and talk … More The Love of Christ Controls Us
Make no mistake: if he rose at all It was as His body; If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit, The amino acids rekindle, The Church will fall. It was not as the flowers, Each soft spring recurrent; It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the … More Seven Stanzas at Easter by John Updike
Good Friday. It seems that nothing less than your spiritual best can qualify you to worship on such a day. A day of gory splendor such as this calls for heartfelt pangs of conviction and heartwarming expressions of gospel praise. Dressed in white robes or with the flashing brightness of the angels, you may come. … More Good Friday
“Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men” (Proverbs 22:29). My youngest brother Greg is finishing up his final semester at Oklahoma State University as he completes a well-earned and hard-fought degree in architecture. He recently applied to graduate schools. Although he hasn’t yet decided where … More High Praise for My Brother
With my $50 gift card to the Shepherds’ Conference bookstore, I purchased (among other books) Give Me This Mountain by Helen Roseveare, first published in 1966. After reading it over the weekend, it feels a bit inappropriate to have gotten it for free. Roseveare was a medical missionary to the northeastern province of the Belgian Congo … More Give Me This Mountain
Another prominent yet subtle false dichotomy is fellowship and evangelism (I’m thinking of specific expressions of this divide at TMC along with general expressions in contemporary, western Christianity at large). Happily, there’s currently a reformative trend towards missional living that’s long overdue, and I for one rejoice at God’s continued (and needed) work in my own … More Dean’s Series, Part 5: Fellowship and Evangelism
This false dichotomy is very attractive at The Master’s College since we’re a conservative, residentially-focused Christian institution that has a pretty defined subculture, for better and for worse. Put your ear to the ground for long enough and you’ll hear the rumblings of the “TMC isn’t real life” mantra. I’m not intensely bothered or threatened … More Dean’s Series, Part 4: College and “Real Life” (Continued)
The best way to handle false dichotomies is to expose them, and then to harmonize them. The first is hard enough; the second can take decades. I’m admittedly in the beginning stages of my own journey of understanding and living these things well, but I’m hopeful that a few on-the-go reflections can at least function … More Dean’s Series, Part 3: College and “Real Life”
As I mentioned a couple days ago, I’ve wrestled over the years with a lot of seemingly contradictory theological themes as well as various aspects of Christian living that seem to be at odds with one another. And I know that my struggles aren’t uncommon. This is why I chose to address what I perceive … More Dean’s Series, Part 2: False Dichotomies and Their Consequences
Now that I’m the Dean of Men at The Master’s College, I (1) rarely have time to blog and (2) preach back-to-back in chapel for the Dean’s Series at the beginning of every spring. This being my first spring semester, I recently finished my first Dean’s Series. Combining these realities leads me to think that maybe it would be … More Blogging the Dean’s Series
I learned some things this year. By “learned” I don’t mean nailed down and boxed up, as though a twenty-seven year-old could learn wisdom with finality. I mean that I saw and experienced and observed these things as meaningful in one way or another. Some were fresh lessons, though most were simply the natural ripening of wisdom through … More Some Things I Learned in 2008
It’s Finals Week at The Master’s College. This means that my first semester as the Dean of Men is almost finished. I don’t know that there’s an easy way to document the experience. My thoughts have tended to swirl the past few months and I’ll be taking Christmas Break to try to sort them out. … More Life
It’s been an intense month of growth and a full week of ministry. Last Sunday I taught Proverbs 8:12-21 in our adult Sunday School class. On Monday I preached in chapel on Romans 8:32. On Tuesday and Thursday I substituted in the “Problems and Procedures” counseling class teaching on how to counsel believers wrestling with same-sex attraction. … More This Week and Beyond
Satan is the great accuser of the saints. Jesus is the great defender of the saints. They are in heaven waging a relentless courtroom battle for our souls. On one side stands Satan as “the accuser of our brothers… who accuses them day and night before our God” (Revelation 12:10). On the other side stands … More Satan and Jesus in God’s Courtroom
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