Many people argue that they can’t change. It comes in many forms. Some say, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” The more contemporary image claims, “I’m just not wired that way.” The old standby complains, “That’s just the way I am.” Maybe and maybe not. Some traits cannot be altered. We can’t change […]
David Foster Wallace in his unfinished novel The Pale King distinguishes between being valuable and being valued. Being valuable is about return on investment, profit margins, quotas met, touchdowns scored, cases closed and wars won. Being valuable is about production and accomplishment. Wallace notes that many people feel “as good as my last sales quarter.” […]
New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks spoke at the Council of Independent Colleges annual meeting in early January 2015. He cited the 1965 book by Joseph Soloveitchik, Lonely Man of Faith, which speaks about the two Adams, representing two different worldviews. Adam One wants to be famous, rich, and win it all for himself […]
That’s not just a line from the wonderful movie Field of Dreams, but also the evangelistic program of many churches. If we build a building, the unchurched will come. But they don’t. Why? Many Christians are puzzled about why unchurched people stay away from church. Some time back Gallup asked that question in a survey […]
If it hadn’t been for Charles Porter’s snapshot, we’d probably never known his name. The photograph of rescue worker Chris Fields cradling a blood-soaked baby in his arms as he carried her out of the Oklahoma City Federal Building changed all that. Time magazine ran the picture under the headline: “Amateur Snaps Photo That Moves […]
High school students and parents typically receive numerous well-designed brochures seeking to attract prospective students with their brand. Observers note that most schools tend to say the same thing and obscure the real distinctions. Former English professor at Yale, William Deresiewicz, in Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite takes up some of the […]
About a month ago at OVU we sent out a fund raising letter about the roof on our athletic building. It leaks. We needed help getting it fixed. Friends of the school sent funds to help out. One check for ten dollars came last week. The donor knew we faced a substantial cost on the […]
My oldest son, Daniel and his wife, Victoria, coordinate the benevolent ministry at the Belmore Road Church of Christ. He recently wrote the following piece as a way of showing biblical rationale for their efforts among the needy. It appears here by permission. We are called to the needs of others, which can be referred […]
The people of the Old Testament didn’t paint pictures on walls or carve images in stone like the ancient Egyptians or Babylonians, but they did leave snapshots in words. Many of these images are of their youngsters. Take a quick look at some of the pictures in their scrap book, with some possible captions. Isaiah […]
Several web sites list concepts for which we have no words in English. Those who speak more than one language often say, “There’s no word in Spanish for that English word.” For example, the Hebrew word “chesed” poses considerable difficulties when translating it into English. The King James Version of the Bible uses ten different […]