called to stand here

Keep men away from each other. They are dangerous in groups. Look at what happened in Minneapolis, in Portland, in Kenosha. Look at the wreckage those wild men left behind. Years of entrepreneurs building businesses and communities from the foundation of the previous generation of immigrants. Swept away in a night, a week, a month. The cities burned; hope fled to the suburbs, the small towns, into the countryside, off the grid. Keep men away from each other. They are dangerous in groups. What if men follow wise warrior kings? Won’t they resist the evil of our day and stand for honor and righteousness? But wait: Just in the nick of time, social and news media have successfully affirmed the irrelevance of men so they isolate and aren’t listening to any but the discrediting voices that crush the hope for meaning in manhood. Welcome to 2020. Men will stay away from each other. Many believe they’re insignificant, impotent in the face of oceanic forces of hostility to masculinity...

It’s terrible to lie in chains And rot in dungy deep But it’s still worse, when you are free, To sleep, and sleep, and sleep. Taras Shevchenko, 1845

An email from my son arrived with this simple subject line: thought you might like this. And then a link in the body, with this statement: "I found it fascinating." http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2012/06/22/the-wrath-of-god-satisfied/ To which I answered that I would spend some time considering what I found there. Here are my thoughts. The discussion McKnight launches in his blog posting is intriguing for its theological significance and the richness of his readers’ thoughtful and civil responses (for the most part, until the bitter end where it decays somewhat). On that topic, I’ve apparently been stuck in too much popular culture or higher ed article feedback loops with ornery or angry respondents; this community is really refreshing for the level of respect they have for each other. What most intrigues me about this discussion is how it draws me close to the core of the gospel message: that Jesus came to pay the price for my sins that I had no resources to ...

Gerry McGovern has been writing and teaching for many years about the usefulness and functionality of good web sites and how they're designed. In his blog post last week he takes a step back and looks at the function of good design and how it gets out of the way of elegant function.

What a concept: doing work that we get paid enough so we can retire our debts in addition to paying our regular bills! I dreamed of that until I was in my 40s, with only a few years of achieving it in my 30s. The balance of time and attention spent doing that career-type work while still being kingdom-focused is one of the biggest challenges I've encountered. The wife-and-kids factor intensifies this by an order of magnitude. In fact, you asking these questions is evidence that you've entered this new level of conflict that is the normal christian living-in-the-world not wanting to lose sight of our kingdom calling. Welcome to the battle! So now what? you're doing this as a child of God's. You bring this challenge before him, and it's been a topic you've asked others to pray for, too, I suspect, even as you have brought it to me. That's a good thing, and a critical component of what will become its successful resolution. The presentation/conside...

An email from my son: I just came across this article and thought it might give you some insight about Bethel: http://www.rogereolson.com/2010/08/14/is-there-one-evangelicalism/ Roger Olson was a professor here (and the liberal arts school to which he refers is Bethel). He captures many of my reasons for ambivalence toward the term evangelical. I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts. My reply: There's no telling what our friends will do or say. They're free to behave as heros or goats. I don't know the specifics of the "inquisition" that Dr. Olson refers to, but I suspect it's Piper's ax-grinding (some might say "witch hunting") regarding Boyd's doctrine. Despite this report that makes me sad about how people on all sides perceived and experienced the episode: even if Piper's approach was completely wrong, it puts me in the same position I find myself when someone I love, like a child or my wife, does something I cannot abide: do I bre...