Some in our day have taken issue with the idea of a national leader who admits before a watching world that his country has made mistakes that have contributed to international problems. Reminds me of a story that my barber told me earlier this week. He said that while volunteering to cut hair at a […]
In “How the Mighty Fall,” author Jim Collins analyzes how once successful corporations cycle through predictable patterns of decline. In his analysis, problems begin when companies take their success for granted and begin to stray from what worked for them in the past. Collins goes on to say the tendency is for managers to overextend […]
Economic crisis is the setting of the story of Ruth in the Old Testament. A famine in Israel, during the difficult, dark days of the Judges, prompted a Jewish family to leave their home in Bethlehem and move to the land of Moab. Ironically, Bethlehem means “house of bread”. These were extreme times. To make […]
Am in the studio this week with Haddon Robinson, Alice Mathews, and Brian Hettinga recording programs for the radio series “Discover the Word.” We’re in the middle of an extended series of conversations about the Old Testament book of Ruth. Ruth is a tragic short story with a good ending. Here’s a summary of the […]
Envy is not always bad. But it can be evil. In the best sense it’s a desire for the good qualities we see in others. In the worst sense it’s a desire to see others deprived of their joy. Reference.com says, “Aristotle in Rhetoric defined envy “as the pain caused by the good fortune of […]
On this long Labor Day weekend, many of us have mixed feelings not only because another summer vacation season is slipping away from us, and not only because it will now be back to school, and business as usual– but because of a churning monster named Gustav. Seems like cruel irony that while the rest […]
Because of the problem of pain and evil that raises disturbing questions about the God of the Bible, I thought it might be a good time to talk about “The Shack”. Finally read the 248 page paperback that so many are talking about. In the meantime I’ve been seeing reviews that go from likening it […]
Toward the end of our last conversation about “What Michael Phelps Needed”, one of our friends raised a question that is too important to be lost at the end of a string of comments. The question comes to us like this: “Why did God create [Michael Phelps] to be such a great swimmer and give […]
Could it be true that God determines who will go to heaven, but leaves us with the impression that the choice is ours? Some students of the Bible are convinced that the doctrines of total depravity, foreknowledge, election, predestination, and sovereign grace are essential to an understanding of the grace of God. They believe that […]
Astronomers tell us that our galaxy is home not only to our own sun and its family of planets, but to billions of other stars. They further explain that our disk-shaped galaxy is about 100,000 light-years wide and about 2,000 light-years thick. Even more amazing is their claim that this “cosmic disk” (itself made up […]
