Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer; the rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs; the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank; the lizard you can take in your hands, … Read More
Focus for Fall: Big Lessons from Small Creatures, Part 3 of 5
Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer; the rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs; the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank; the lizard you can take in your hands, … Read More
Focus for Fall: Big Lessons from Small Creatures, Part 2 of 5
Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer; the rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs; the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank; the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it … Read More
Focus for Fall: Big Lessons from Small Creatures, Part 1 of 5
It was five in the morning. I was a freshman at college in Springfield, MO and, suddenly, the phone rang. It must have taken me five or six rings to answer and several sentences into the conversation before I realized it was my boss, Bill Hartley—owner of a small roofing company. My illustrious part-time job for him was to carry … Read More
How Death is a Pre-Fall Reality That Points Us to Christ
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…. (Rom. 5:12, ESV) Recently I was asked in light of the series I did on “How I Changed My Mind About Genesis 1 and Science” the following question: How do evolutionary creationists account for the idea … Read More
What White Birch Trees Teach Us About Life
Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary… Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea roar and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it, then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD… (Psa. 96:6,11-13a, ESV) I wrote the … Read More
How Getting the Theme of the Bible Right Helps You Live
For by him [Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. (Col. 1:16, ESV) In his thought-provoking book, Desiring the Kingdom, James K. A. Smith gives a helpful and broad definition of the kingdom that can apply to all … Read More
Civility Again: Why We Need to Say More About How We Say Things
I was grieved this week. Not only because children were being separated from their parents as a result of the new “zero-tolerance” policy at the U.S.-Mexico border—something that has been opposed by major evangelical organizations for weeks, but because I saw relationships severed due to the emotional and ugly rhetoric on both sides. We so easily villainize each other and Christians … Read More
Recovering the Lost Art of Civility
Believe it or not, my biggest challenge in my role as Executive Director of Church Outreach and Engagement at Care Net is to de-link pro-life efforts from politics. If I can’t do that, I can’t gain a hearing among those who most need to hear my message about how to offer compassion, hope, help, and discipleship to the abortion-vulnerable. Sadly, … Read More
How I Changed my Mind About Genesis 1 and Science, Part 5 of 5
I am incompetent to endorse evolution. My point is that the scientific consensus endorses it, and, like B. B. Warfield, as an exegete and biblical theologian I see no need to interpret natural selection for the origin of species within an atheist worldview. Natural selection can be accepted within a framework of trusting Scripture as inerrant as to its source … Read More