Real Men See the Evidence of God's Grace

This is an excellent counter-strategy to discouragement: keep notes about the evidence of God's grace.

Enduring Appeal of Marxism

"Part of the genius of Marxism, and a reason for its enduring appeal, is that it feeds man's neurotic fear of social catastrophe while providing an avenue for moral transcendence." -- Bret Stephens

Marxists fear religion -- and Christianity in particular -- because it's a competitor for moral transcendence and gives people heart-satisfying reasons to abandon their fears.

20th Anniversary Celebration

Let us rejoice with our brothers and sisters and friends in Germany as they celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down!

This is arguably one of the most significant events in the 20th century, certainly within my lifetime. I can still remember watching the news coverage of people chipping on it and singing happily. My father had taken a short bus tour of the East German side of Berlin only a few years before, said it was one of the most depressing sites he'd ever seen.

I find it curious that it's not getting as much attention here in the US as I would have expected, given the prominent US role in freeing people in Eastern Europe. Perhaps we're distracted with domestic issues. Perhaps it's preferable to celebrate Nazi defeats more than Communist defeats.

I hope and pray that lessons of what it took to bring down Russian communism and its satellite empires is not forgotten.

Prayerlessness = Unbelief ...And How to Remedy It

Take a few moments and reflect on Kevin de Young's recent blog post on prayerlessness as unbelief.

Excerpts to whet your appetite:

"There may be many reasons for our prayerlessness—time management, busyness, lack of concentration—but most fundamentally, we ask not because we think we need not. or we think God can give not. Deep down we feel secure when we have money in the bank, a healthy report from the doctor, and powerful people on our side. We do not trust in God alone. Prayerlessness is an expression of our meager confidence in God’s ability to provide and of our strong confidence in our ability to take care of ourselves without God’s help."

"You don’t need to work and work at discipline nearly as much as you need faith. You don’t need an ordered life to enable prayer, you need a messy life to drive you to prayer. You don’t need to have everything in order before you can pray. You need to know you’re disordered so you will pray. You don’t need your life to be fixed up. You need a broken heart."

Read the whole article.

Seeing Jesus as our Manly King

I've written before about Jesus not being a Breck girl, and the problems for some men when we portray an incomplete picture of Jesus.

So I really liked this short video from Pastor Mark Driscoll about how we sing to the Warrior King.

What is RSS and Why

Advices for Parenting the "Terrible Threes"

I liked this advice from Ron Edmondson:

Here is my advice for surviving the terrible threes:

Suffer through it! Most likely, it will not last long,, perhaps not even a whole year, and there is hope on the other side.

Be consistent - This is not the time to give in to the child’s outbursts. This is the time to consistently follow through with prescribed discipline.

Keep loving - As much as your child tries your patience, continue to always exhibit love to your child, even during discipline.

Experiment – Use different discipline methods until you find one that works for this stage of the child’s life.

Remember you are the adult – Sometimes when the child is showing his or her worse side it is tempting to show yours. Keep your cool. Be mature. Handle these days firmly, but calmly. Remember you are modeling behavior for your child.

Teach your child – This phase can be a great opportunity to teach your child how to respond to disappointment and frustration.

Don’t be afraid to share your situation with others. Often parents are embarrassed because of their children’s behavior during this stage of life so they hide the struggle; not realizing that so many other parents experience the same with their children. The biggest surprise at this stage of your child’s life may be when you discover you are not unique in this struggle.

By the way, these work in most other phases of a child’s life also.

Frightening Stats on "Christian" Kids

Our CE Director recently attended the D6 Conference, and reported this information to the pastors and elders at our church. I'd encourage every dad and every church leader to look through these -- then repent, ask God for specific direction, and pray for strength to lead our children well.

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"Children are living in a state of crisis!" George Barna September 25, 2009

" Moral foundation is formed by age 9.

" Spiritual foundation by age 13; no significant spiritual change by any other age groups.

" 69% of youth say they know all or most of the Bible stories and themes.

" Most parents say kids are incapable of making important moral and spiritual decisions until age 13 or 14.

" Kids are getting less than one hour per week of spiritual experience.

" 87% of parents are satisfied with what the church does.

" 2% of 13 year olds have a Biblical world view.

" Only 1 of 3 thirteen year olds is born again.

" 4 of 5 thirteen year olds don't know what worship is.

" Most never experience God's presence

" Biblical knowledge is embarrassing.

" 20% of students who were highly churched as teens remained spiritually active by age 29. - Barna / Missions Frontier

Darren Whitehead, Next Gen Ministries, Willow Creek Church

" Church kids not much different than world.

" 60-80% leaves the church. Whitehead

" Church kids have shallow Biblical knowledge. Whitehead

"The majority of self identified unbelievers in this country are former church kids. Perhaps for the first time in church history those most inclined toward belief - our own children - are walking away from the faith at an alarming rate." Unchristian by David Kinnaman

"Only 17% of the 1009 adults participated in family devotions with any degree of regularity. Shift by Bryan Hanes p. 43. Copyright 2009.

What will the next generation look like?

" Builders: born 1927-1945, 65% Bible based believers

" Boomers: born 1946-1964, 35% Bible based believers

" Buster: born 1965-1983, 16% Bible based believers

" Bridgers: born 1984 or later, 4% Bible based believers

While many today might classify themselves as believers, only 4% of this next generation would affirm themselves as Bible-believing Christians!" Battle Cry for a Generation by Ron Luce

30 year anniversary of Iranian Embassy Hostage Crisis

It's hard to believe it's been 30 years since Iranians stormed the US embassy in Tehran. Here's an interesting slideshow of the events.

Thinking Clearly about HSAs

My friend Matt Perman has an excellent post on health-savings accounts and practical ideas that can and will work for improving health insurance. Highly recommended if you're as frustrated as I am about the paucity of clear thinking on the whole health care debate.

Christians Making the World Better

There is a lot of suffering and pain and sadness in this world. It's a broken system, and nothing short of the Lord Jesus' return will fully heal it.

Yet God works through His people today and the world is better because of His love and mercy and grace and power.

Here's a terrific example: surgeries to help women overcome obstretic fistulas.

If I had a special magnet and could remove all the evidences of God's grace at work today, what would be left? Nothing you'd want to see or experience for long.

10 Million Words

I’m regularly challenged by Tim Challies’ observations and writing. He has a new year-long blog project: read and review every non-fiction book on the NYTimes bestseller list! What a terrific way to assess US Culture through the lens of what’s selling. It’s called 10 Million Words and worth your time.