Unexpected Joy

A deeply moving family story captured with outstanding videography, music, and editing:

Book Review: Family-Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham, Jr.

I don’t recall when I first heard of Voddie Baucham but we did have the privilege of seeing him live at the Desiring God National Conference in Minneapolis back in 2006. During that same timeframe I called him and talked with him about twenty-five minutes. He was gracious and I recall our conversation went very well. What I cannot recall is why I called him in the first place!

I started reading his first book, The Ever-Loving Truth, but did not finish it, which is nothing new in my world. This book, Family-Driven Faith, which I purchased through the Amazon Kindle Store and read over three devices (my iPad, my iPhone, and my wife’s Kindle Fire), was more engaging to me because of my interest in the subject matter. Two areas of interest drove me to read this book: (1) how to do a better job as the spiritual leader of my home and (2) how to more effectively lead our church to equip parents in discipling their children. Family-Driven Faith is the only book I have ever read that that I can recall addresses these two issues, and Baucham does so boldly and directly.

Word Changes in the 2011 ESV Text

Here is a great resource for comparing the changes between the 2007 update and the 2011 update of the English Standard Version, my default translation:

http://d3p91it5krop8m.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/misc/esv_2011_changes.html

St. Patrick’s History (by talking Vegetables)

Trusting the News and Slandering Fellow Christians

Many years ago I was interviewed by a newspaper for a front page story. Having a feeling I might be quoted at length, which I was, I chose my words very carefully. Apparently the writer of the story felt at liberty to quote the spirit of my words instead of my exact words. Unfortunately many of the synonyms he chose were precisely the words I intentionally avoided. I was aghast. My Dad, being a journalist, assured me that my experience was common. That experience gave me a profound sympathy for celebrities and politicians who have expressed great distrust in the media machine.

Best-selling author and controversial Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren has recently suffered much misunderstanding and outright attacks from fellow Christians because of a poor job by the media. Rumors have been flying that he has rejected the exclusivity of Jesus Christ and Christianity. A recent interview sets the record straight.

Here is an example of where Christians are far too quick to jump on the background and believe everything that is said or written about a fellow Christian. The goal of our country’s judicial system is to protect the innocent; a person charged with a crime is assumed innocent until proven guilty. Should we Christians be quicker to rush to judgment than our courts are set up to do?

Sadly, conservative evangelical Christians seem quick to rush to judgment. We don’t just rush to judgment, we also tend to be swift to slander. If we truly lived out the Golden Rule, we would assume the best in others and be slow to judge others and remember that you cannot trust everything you read.

“The Bible That’s Falling Apart…”

“The Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to a person who isn’t!”

You may have already seen this picture, as it has been circulating on Facebook and the world wide web. I’ve seen the quote attributed to Charles Spurgeon and Vance Havner. Here are what I consider to be the options:

A. Spurgeon said it and Havner repeated it, thus it should be attributed to Spurgeon.

B. One of the men actually said it, and the other was falsely attributed the quote. This seems to be a real possibility because both men have many famous quotes.

C. Using the same logic behind option B, neither of these men actually said it.

That all said, it sounds to me like something Havner would say, so I’m going go with option B…Havner likely said it and somewhere along the way Spurgeon was falsely attributed the quote because he has so many other great quotes as well.

Of course, if any reader has evidence for the source of the quote, that would be fantastic. Please leave a comment.

Regardless of who said it, it makes a great point.  Dig into God’s Word and be transformed!