Stopping to Think

"If we maintain, then, the glory of God, let us speak in His own language, or forever be silent. That is glorious in Him which He ascribes unto Himself." John Owen Commonplace Monday is a series of posts wherein, on Monday mornings, I share short quips, sentences -perhaps as much as a paragraph- which I have collected in my various commonplace books and files. If I wrote down or recall where it came from I will certainly give attribution. However, sometimes I write down things and not where they came from. So if you see anything like that here and recognize it, that's what comment sections are for. 

Throwback Thursday is a series of posts, wherein I will on (some) Thursdays post a piece of writing from back in the day. Generally not from this blog. I will edit lightly for readability, but my intention is to allow each piece to stand basically as written. Over the years my mind has shifted on many things, as my knowledge of life, the Scriptures, and myself has grown. I'm not in the business of hiding this fact, so these will probably (at least on occasion) contain some things which even I think are crazy. Originally posted on Facebook as, "Elaboration on my thoughts from Fuel 3/13" March 15, 2010 at 2:39am Public Friends Friends except Acquaintances Only Me Custom Good feed South Lake Youth Ministries See all lists... Le Mars, Iowa Area Plummer, Idaho Area Family US Postal Service Acquaintances Go Back So it's been a while since I wrote a note...one month in fact. This will be interesting. I will start out by apologizing to anyone who listened to me f...

"Rose early to meet with him whom my soul loves." Robert Murray McCheyne   I think about that quote from McCheyne now and then. How dearly that man loved his God; and he fostered and kindled that love by rising early to meet with the maker and lover of his soul.    There is a flippant, lightweight, Jesus-is-my-boyfriend kind of Christianity that exists  in many evangelical churches. This can be displayed in music full of sappy emotionalism and empty platitudes: "Jesus makes me happy all the time", "Jesus, lover of my soul, Jesus I've lost all cognitive control." It also can be found in devotional literature that focuses little on the person of God and doctrines such as His holiness or His majesty, contrasting them with my sinful estate; rather the focus is on how He feels toward me, with little to say about why He might feel that way or what He might expect of me. These things are really easy for me to pick on, and frankly i...

"Christ is the center of Christianity; all else is circumference." John Stott Commonplace Monday is a series of posts wherein, on Monday mornings, I share short quips, sentences -perhaps as much as a paragraph- which I have collected in my various commonplace books and files. If I wrote down or recall where it came from I will certainly give attribution. However, sometimes I write down things and not where they came from. So if you see anything like that here and recognize it, that's what comment sections are for. 

If you folks at all enjoy what you read here, and have an interest in gardening, or don't enjoy what you read here, but still have an interest in gardening, then take a look at my new blog, The Insufficient Self-Sufficient. Obviously, there isn't much there to be read, yet. But my hope is to post weekly updates on the states of the roughly 1,000 square feet of my life devoted to growing things.

Over at the Southern Evangelical Seminary blog, my good friend Levi Kilian (who has guest blogged here before ) has a piece entitled God and Morgan Freeman. Head on over and give it a read. It's a little lengthy and somewhat dense, but very worth your time. When we speak about God, is the question, "Who is God?" an appropriate place to begin? From Levi's article: [A]s important as the question “Who is God?” is, before we can answer it we must first ask the question “Does God exist?” If we don’t deal with the question of God’s existence, then there is no God to know about in the first place. Asking “Who is God?” presupposes that he exists. If we can know that God exists, then we can begin to delimit Who he is—i.e. whether he is the God or gods of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. Are all truth claims equal? Could it simply be possible that all religions are true in their own way?  Contrary to what Freeman implies in his method, not every religion ...

Coping with Change: Ecclesiastes by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. My rating: 4 of 5 stars Kaiser's little commentary on Ecclesiastes is very helpful. I think he nails the structure of the book; the charts for passages such as the beginning of chapter 12 are somewhat helpful, although I wouldn't ever use them for teaching. Sometimes his commitment to literal interpretation misses, in my opinion, the poetic effect that Qoheleth intends. But overall, a helpful read. View all my reviews

"The highest praise that can be bestowed upon a Christian minister is not to tell him how much his preaching is enjoyed on sabbaths, but to let him see how well it is being translated into the life on the other days of the week. We live in a practical age; and the mission of the pulpit is as practical and definite as that of any other institution of our time. It is an agency for man-building. Its work is to promote the doing of the Word of God in the everyday lives of men."  -Charles Jerdan Commonplace Monday is a series of posts wherein, on Monday mornings, I share short quips, sentences -perhaps as much as a paragraph- which I have collected in my various commonplace books and files. If I wrote down or recall where it came from I will certainly give attribution. However, sometimes I write down things and not where they came from. So if you see anything like that here and recognize it, that's what comment sections are for. 

Here is a link to my dear wife's blog, particularly the post Talking Doritos . It is well worth your time. So much of our introspection is silly or a waste of time, but this is a prime example of introspection and self-examination at their best.

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who ...