Knowing the God of the Gospel

Within the past year, the pastor of my church encouraged me to have a formal 'date night' with my wife each week.  This was a pipe dream for my wife and I for several years, and we never implemented this idea because of three young children below the age of 9.  Baby sitters are hard to find and expensive, kids require constant attention and soccer commitments.  It is hard to carve out time for a "date night" because of the ever pressing needs of our kids and money commitments. Yet his excellent suggestion directed us to have a "date night" at our dining room table at home.  Now each week, we put the kids in the basement with their favorite video and a bowl of popcorn, and my wife and I enjoy a candle lit dinner with a store bought dessert and peace and quiet together for a couple of hours.  In a planned and formal way, it is a practice that cultivates love and relationship in our marriage that we both look forward to and cherish.  You could say that this is...

John Newton was a great hymn writer of the 1700's world renowned for his authorship of "Amazing Grace", but many do not know that he was a wonderful letter writer. Although his sermons were not widely published, his letters to friends and congregants are full of pastoral wisdom and insight.  Tony Reinke recently published a compilation of Newton's writing that are pure gold. Newton writes, "Every step along the path of life is a battle for the Christian to keep two eyes on Christ"-the eyes of the heart. "If I may speak my own experience," he said, "I find that to keep my eye simply upon Christ, as my peace, and my life, is by far the hardest part of my calling." Newton lived out what the ancients called "the beautific vision".  Through the eyes of faith, keeping our vision of Jesus Christ at the center of our lives. Keeping our eyes upon Jesus with a constant awareness of his presence, is the great goal and challenge of th...

Recently I was listening to an interview with a pastor named Louie Giglio on the radio and in this interview Giglio was talking about people that had impacted his life growing  up.  Giglio grew up in the Atlanta area as a child and came in contact with a Christian leader in Atlanta that impacted his life in his teens and early 20's.  This man's influence was so profound in Giglio's life, that it changed the trajectory of his future life and ministry.  The man that Giglio was talking about was named Dan DeHaan.  As Giglio spoke in this interview, he talked about how there was something special about DeHaan.  When Giglio was around Dan DeHaan, Giglio sensed that he seemed to know God in a way that was different than Giglio and in such a deep way, that it made Giglio want to know God more and pursue God more urgently.  Dan DeHaan was a man that was much with God and people that were around him could sense it.  After listening to t...

Every night when my wife and I put our kids to bed, we read them a Bible story and I say a prayer with them.  Friends have talked to me about how meaningless some bed time prayers were for them growing up. "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep..."  Recently, I have been spending some time each night, going through different parts of the Lord's Prayer with my kids.  The exercise has challenged me to pray more biblically, and forced me to get clear on praying biblically so I can teach my kids how to pray.  This whole initiative began for me through reading Tim Keller's new book on Prayer. I highly recommend this book for many reasons.  Firstly, Keller anchors prayer so deeply into Scripture and explains why this is so important.  Many of the "prayer fads" around today talk about expressing ourselves, but Keller does a masterful job of teaching why prayer is "answering speech".  First we need to hear from God through His Wor...

Complaining or Praying? My wife and I are in the throes of child raising seemingly every waking moment of our lives, and one of the things we spend time talking about and thinking about are the forces that shape our children.  My words shape my children, and what I emphasize and what I correct reveal what I value.  My actions shape my children, as they constantly watch my every move and call me out when I have a little ice cream and they are excluded.  The videos, entertainment and culture shapes my children too, as they watch images, see clothing and track with how people behave, often imitating what they see others do.  Recently, friends of mine visited our house and their 14 year old son was constantly wearing a pull over stocking cap as some teenagers are prone to do, even in the hot summer.  Well, my son Daniel was watching this teenager (Spencer) like a hawk, and this teenager quickly become a hero to my son Daniel.   A litt...

   As a father of three young children, finding the balance of how to discipline in love is a great adventure.  As a friend mention to me at lunch today, kids go through stages of development and navigating their stage of development requires new GPS settings every day.  Both of my twin children are a hand full, but my son Daniel right now is really challenged when it comes to following instructions.  Yet it seems that his disregard of instructions is not really rebellion, often it is just curiosity.  Daniel is curious about everything and sometimes directions get lost when he is really focused on something he is curious about.  Yet during these times when he is lost in his own world, I can get impatient and my voice can have "an edge".  When I'm tired, the edge becomes particularly evident.  Sadly, sometimes I can have an edge with people too.  When travelling through life, I often project onto God my own moods and attitudes and ...

The Problem of Forgiveness     My two four year old kids are learning about forgiveness.  They often act selfishly against each other, offending each other and we are teaching them to apologize and forgive.  It is often a rote catch phrase they quickly spout off, knowing that it is an appropriate practice in life and relationships.  They often throw the phrase into situations of conflict, knowing that it is important, but not always grasping the concepts of offense, forgiveness and the resulting reconciliation that forgiveness is intended to accomplish.   Why doesn't God simply forgive us with words of forgiveness like I require of my kids?   Why should our forgiveness depend on Christ's death on the cross?  As one French cynic once said, "Why can't God practice what he preaches and be equally generous [to us]? Nobody's death is necessary before we forgive each other.  Why then does God make so much fuss about forgiving us an...