Reflections on God … Man … Life
Reflections on living as a disciple of Christ.
Father’s Day 2011. It was only about a week before Father’s Day 2004 when I last saw my dad. His health was very bad and was deteriorating swiftly. What I recall most about that visit was that we talked, cried, and prayed for three days. He reconfirmed his faith in Christ during those days, and just before I left, he told me he considered those days to have been appointed by God. He also requested that I speak at his… Read more »
Faith is something I’ve had to learn over the years. By faith, I don’t necessarily mean the basic belief in Christian truth. That is solid and, I trust, enduring by this time in my life. But I’ve had to learn how to take steps of faith along the way for specific circumstances. And I’ve had to learn what faith is not. There was a time in my life when I thought that God was at my beck and call, and… Read more »
The last paper is graded; the semester is over. That’s a good feeling. Breaks are always welcome, but I truly do live for the teaching ministry God has given me. I love the beginning of a school year, and there’s always something special about commencements. This is Southeastern’s commencement this year; it occurred last Friday. For the first time we had to rent a larger facility to hold everyone. I’m on the stage in the distance, but don’t bother trying… Read more »
I’ve had a couple of different questions directed at me after the news of Osama bin Laden’s death. Let me use my post today to give my perspective on these questions. One of the questions is ancient—not new at all—dealing with the concept of a “just war.” There has been a strand of Christian thought that rejects the idea that any war is just. This viewpoint, normally labeled pacifism, says it is always wrong to take up arms regardless of… Read more »
One day in the late 1960s, when I was in high school, somehow—and I don’t remember the details—I came across a book that made a major impact on my thinking and my understanding of a relationship with God. It was a book that also took me into a world of which I had no knowledge. It was called The Cross and the Switchblade. It was the story of a rural minister in Pennsylvania who sensed that God had called him… Read more »
I’ve never wanted to use this blog as some sort of personal diary of my family’s life, but sometimes events are worth mentioning. I hope you will indulge me today. My wife, Jan, was recently diagnosed with a very aggressive breast cancer. She has now begun chemo treatments. We expect surgery to follow later. When something like this occurs, one certainly must do what the name of this blog enjoins—ponder principles. As a Christian, I view all of life as… Read more »
I haven’t said anything about education for some time, so I’ll enter that territory briefly today. Fortunately, the teachers’ unions can help us understand our current state of affairs. A little commentary on how those unions operate can perhaps show us how we ought to reform our education system. Or perhaps not. Hmm … could it be that some of the problems we’re experiencing could be because of the teachers’ unions? As someone who has taught at the university level… Read more »