Gifts from the Giver

He believed in American values.  He was hard-working and understood that this was the only path to wealth and power.  He told it like it is, and he never understated his achievements.  He knew how to get ahead, how to self-promote and how to be a world class administrator.  He built an empire; he was the envy of all.

Who was this mysterious powerhouse?

Calling Bible Things by Bible Names

"Call Bible things by Bible names." Have you ever heard that maxim before?  I grew up hearing it, mostly in reference to naming things.  Nondenominational groups of all stripes have long been against calling a minister "pastor," a word that references elders in the New Testament.  Or calling a church by a person's name instead of using a biblical name like, "The Way."

The Pride of Life

I read a disturbing and convicting article aimed at leaders recently.  It suggested that sometimes christian workers, especially missionaries suffer from the "pride of life."  In other words they may take more than a little pride in what they've suffered, what they've given up, what they've done and who they've become.  

The Crossroads of Pride

I've been sitting at the crossroads of Nebuchadnezzar, the Pharaoh and the Pharisee.

Pharaoh came to me from "Exodus," one of the books we're reviewing (coming up soon) from Pryor Convictions Media.  My 5 year old daughter and I are using it for homeschool Bible curriculum this term.  Nebuchadnezzar has been around for about a month as our little church is reading through Daniel together.  And we read the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in morning devos where we've been focused on prayer. 

S-21

S-21 is the prison where Pol Pot had thousands of political dissidents, ethnic and religious minorities, and ordinary innocents interrogated and tortured.  I walked through it on a recent visit to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.  

Literally sick to my stomach, I sank onto a bench outside the museum and tried to pray. The victim's pain was stunning.  Even more nauseating was a question lingering in my mind. How did this happen?  I've read biographies that tried to explain how men become tyrants, dictators and mass murders, but that's not what was bothering me. Rather it was this: How do ordinary men become professional torturers and executioners? In one upstairs galley I read the profiles of the wardens and the prisoners - nearly identical.

Pride

I recently reread Mere Christianity.  It's an old favorite-the kind of book that the first time you read it you are stunned by its simplicity, but when you have read it once a year for 20 years you'll still find something new.  I suppose that the book that best embodies this phenomenon is the Bible, but all the great books reflect a little bit of that quality.  Lewis isn't getting deeper, and the Bible certainly isn't changing, but I am.  And a year's growth in me brings a clearer vision of the author's words. This year I was struck by the chapter on pride.