Brian McLaughlin is putting up some very valuable posts on parenting teenagers. I cannot recommend them highly enough. The last one on on MTD’s (or something like that) is very insightful.
Read his thoughts by clicking here.
Monthly Archive for April, 2008
This article reports that J.I. Packer has chosen to leave the Anglican church.
If you are a Christian, you may (probably!) need your thinking corrected about where we spend eternity.
Here’s the deal. Christians will be on earth: this earth. Click here to read what Tullian Tchividjian writes about an area where many (most?) Christians are confused.
Speaking to children, John Piper defines “holy ambition.” This is great stuff for our Sunday School workers to watch. Click here.
Bring some levity into your day.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9em-ZCddWk&hl=en]
HT: Justin Taylor
Orison Piper has a drum set and he knows who to thank. (Click here and be sure to watch the video).
Our favorite family prayer story: I read the story of Saul and the Amalekites. As you recall, a disobedient Saul disobeyed and did not kill all the Amalekite livestock.
“And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?”(1 Sa 15:14).”
After hearing this story, our son Benjamin prayed for his cousin Richie, “I pray for Richie. I pray if he is ever in a war that he would kill everything, even their pets.”
Tall Skinny Kiwi is a blogger in the Orkney Islands: North of Scotland (or, a northern part of Scotland), a long ways from Stillman Valley, IL.
I found this post (click here) fascinating. I wish I’d been able to participate. Alas, I was nowhere near the Orkney Islands on Saturday.
Perhaps, Malcolm will let me crash next time.
What an amazing world we live in, where we have instant access to how someone spent their Saturday on the other side of the North Atlantic.
Has anyone ever been there?
One of the things our church wants to be all about is setting high expectations for our young people. In keeping with that, listen to John Piper preach a sermon that is a great challenge to young people and their parents. (Click here).
Or, order this book: Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations
I haven’t read it yet, but I’m hearing great things about it including an endorsement from Piper. I’m sure there will be one circulated around our house soon.
Click here to read a CT article about how Lewis had more in common with Prince Caspian than any of his other characters.
Do you realize that one of the most important statements about God is that He is light. John R.W. Stott says that no biblical statement is more comprehensive of God’s essential being than the 1 John 1:5 assertion that God is “light.” The idea that God is light carries a number of truths with it. First, God chooses to tell us about Himself. The God of Heaven and Earth does not dwell in shadows, but he discloses himself, again using Stott’s words, in perfect purity and utter majesty.”
The light that God shines does not simply tell us who God is — - but light from God allows us to walk. When we know Christ, the light that we find in God’s Word allows us to confidently move forward in life. We do not need to hesitate or be unsure.
The next time you notice light, think of the light. If you look west from Rockford and see a great sunset, remind yourself that God is light. In Him there is not even a trace of darkness. He does not dwell in shadows but He blazes a knowledge of himself into human history through His Creation and His Word. He gives us this light not simply that we can worship His excellence, but also that we can walk forward in life, that we may have right conduct.
It is not the job of the church to hide our lights under baskets. Rather, we are to be mirrors that reflect the brilliances, purity, and majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ.
