Some snippets from Appendix 2 of Dallas Willard’s ‘The Spirit of the Disciplines’: “The word ‘disciple’ occurs 269 times in the New Testament. ‘Christian’ is found only 3 times and was first introduced to refer precisely to the disciples. . . . For the last several decades our churches have not made discipleship a condition […]
I think I’ve hinted around the edges of this idea in some of my previous posts about technology, smartphones, and social media. But for some reason, lately, I’ve been noticing more the degree to which technology is changing the ways in which we engage the world (and people) around us. One of the key ways […]
Not long after my departure from my former job, as I was participating in a variety of assessments to gauge my strengths and interests, I sat down and created an outline of…well…I wasn’t sure what it was supposed to be. A course? An educational/training program? Behind the outline was a desire to help equip lay […]
For much of my life, I never knew there was a name for the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I knew of Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday), when historically people would use up “luxury” cooking items such as butter, eggs and fat prior to giving them up for Lent. And of […]
If one was looking for a diagnosis of what ails the world, they would be hard-pressed to find a better example than this headline and story. Tourist mecca Notre Dame also revered as place of worship
As one with introverted tendencies, I tend to “live in my head” quite a bit. I ponder stuff, think about the future, play out scenarios in my mind. That tends to be both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing insofar as it enables me to think things through, to “count the cost”. It’s […]
For the past year and a half, I feel like I’ve been in a sort of waiting room. I’ve knocked on door after door after door, but none have been opened. I’ve had moments of frustration. Resentment. Anger. Utter hopelessness. It’s been agonizingly uncomfortable. And extraordinarily humbling. I really can’t say why for sure all […]
‘The Great Divorce’, by C. S. Lewis, is a fictional account of a trip to Heaven, and a fascinating study of why many people would choose not to stay there. Later in the story, Lewis is met in Heaven by one of his real-life literary and spiritual heroes, Scottish author and pastor George MacDonald. (Lewis […]
I can be a pretty effective convincer of myself. As I’ve gotten older, and especially as I’ve been trying to make a more conscious effort to recognize, and submit to, the will of God, I’ve discovered that I’m really good at rationalizing my own thoughts and desires. Without much effort, I can come up with […]
You remember the old puzzle as to whether the owl came from the egg or the egg from the owl. The modern acquiescence in universal evolutionism is a kind of optical illusion, produced by attending exclusively to the owl’s emergence from the egg. We are taught from childhood to notice how the perfect oak grows […]