Renew

Our friends are moving. Our youngest daughter is upset, but I think that my wife and I are the ones who are  devastated   We've enjoyed BBQ and the big games. We've babysat for each other. We've borrowed tools and shared eggs and sugar. And who's going to watch our dog? Good neighbors are really hard to find.  Doing life together is what family does by default. It's what friends do by choice. Then there is the body of Christ. The church family is supposed to "do life together". But that's increasingly hard when many of its members live so far apart. Tim Chester lays out the following options: 1. Join or plant local churches   I wonder how many churches people pass as they drive half an hour to church each Sunday. Some will be dead and ready for burial. But many will be good churches. They may not be as good as the church people attend. But they may be faithful and engaged in their locality. Why do people do this? It reflects a consumer mentality. W...

Here's a great reminder during this election year from my prof. John Frame: But what the Bible would teach us above all in this situation is this: we should not put our trust in government, private industry, or economic theory, whether capitalist or socialist. All of these have failed us miserably in the present crisis, and many times in history. We should not be looking to government to make us wealthy or to deal with the sins that have led our nation to this point in history. Now as ever, we should trust only in “the name of the Lord our God” (Ps. 20:7), the name of Jesus Christ.

Long lines on Chick-fil-A appreciation day I love Chick-fil-A. We don't have one in our town, so when we travel, it's a treat to get their  Chargrilled Chicken Club Sandwich smothered in extra Honey Roasted BBQ sauce. It's enough to make my mouth water just thinking about it. So when all the commotion surrounding  Dan Cathy's defense of "the biblical definition of the family unit" broke loose , I saw it as just another opportunity to go to one of my favorite restaurants. Nevermind that the nearest one is over 20 miles away. Protesters standing against Chick-fil-A But, of course, much more is at stake than a good chicken sandwich. Marriage and family issues are vital to the health of any society. What we believe about what constitutes a marriage matters immensely. The reaction to Dan Cathy's comments--both pro and con--are evidence of this fact. In the end, truth matters and people will stand up for what they believe in. My appeal to those who...