Veterans Day in America is humbling.

Consider the hundreds of thousands of lives sacrificed to give birth to this nation and to keep her free.  Each one of them sons and daughters, dads and moms, brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends.  Humbling.

Consider the hundreds of thousands of living veterans.  They are in our churches, neighborhoods, businesses and schools.  They greet us at Wal-Mart.  They cook our meals.  They drive our cabs, or trains, or buses.  They build our homes and cities.  They keep our roads repaired.  They build our infrastructure.  They teach.  They preach.  They mentor.  They lead businesses.  They often are quite silent about their time in the military.  They aren't looking for fame or fortune or attention (a few current SEALS excepted).  They are silent heroes.  Humbling.

Our nation faces some imminent threats.  I am not convinced we can or will withstand them in the long-run.  But I pray God's grace continues to be shed on us.  May our Founders' pledge of their lives, fortunes and sacred honor not be in vain!

The great need of America, however, is not to be found in political halls or on Mid-East battlefields.

Our great need is revival of God's men by the Holy Spirit.  We need warriors for Christ to rise up and reclaim our homes, our workplaces, our schools, and our churches for God's glory in the gospel of Christ.  We need warriors who will fight sin, addictions to gaming or gambling or drugs or perversions of any kind.  We need warrior-men in Jesus who will once again wash their wives in the Word.  We need warrior-men to model pursuit of holiness for our children.  We need men who know the enemy well - Satan and their own sinful hearts.  We need men who know the Savior even better; for He is the Sovereign Warrior-Redeemer-King.

God give us men.  And may future generations of Christians look back on their manly sacrifices and be able to celebrate their own brand of Veterans Day.  Veterans of the War against sin and filth and deception and irresponsibility and false doctrine and feminism and warped gospel.  This is always a war worth fighting!  Rise up O Men of God!

Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.  My loving kindness and my deliverer, my shield in whom I take refuge (Psalm 144:1-2).

Train us O God!  Make us Your veterans.  Amen.   

For nearly seven years now as a Pastor, I have been warning parents about the harmful effects on their children of too much "screen time."

It used to be TV.  Then it was computers or laptops.  Now it's an iPad or iPhone or X-Box.

As a Pastor, all I was doing was observing the declining attention spans and people skills of children and youth in the church.  They had their faces stuck in a screen all the time, and it seemed obvious to me it was doing something detrimental to them in the real world of human relations.  They could not carry on a conversation with adults for more than a minute.  They could not pay attention to a Bible lesson or sermon for more than 5 minutes.  They could not and would not sit at a dinner table without checking their phone every 5 minutes.  I have also observed all this in young adults (30 years and under).  They have great relationships with their devices, but their marriages have horrific communication, and their parenting relies too heavily on - you guessed it - electronic babysitters.

Turns out there is a growing body of scientific research backing up my pastoral observations.  A top German neuroscientist, Manfred Spitzer, has coined the term "digital dementia" to describe loss of cognitive abilities due to screen time.  The effects being witnessed are more typically associated with head injuries or psychosis!

South Korean scientists are studying this too, since they have the largest percentage of screen time in the world among their youth.  Excessive screen time or digital love affairs over-develop the left side of the brain, while leaving the right side malnourished.  The right side of the brain is responsible for things like concentration, logical and long-term planning, and memory.

We don't try to memorize information now and then use our brains to retrieve it when needed.  That's what an I-phone is for!  In other words, we're not interested in truly learning something.  We just trust our devices.

Other research has shown excessive screen time contributes to a loss of compassion and ability to relate to others, and also loss of ability to show emotion.  No wonder we have such a love affair with zombies!  We are becoming zombies, incapable of emoting.

Still more research is showing us video games having dopamine-type effects.  It's highly addictive.

Other effects include: inability to plan, organize, and prioritize.  Read more about all this and more Here

So, Christian parents, aside from all the ruinous spiritual consequences associated with hours and hours of screen time, you now have good, solid science telling you to take control of the situation before it's too late.

The article linked above has some suggestions for how to help your children fight this digital war.  Here are a few of my own, based on the biblical principle of "put off / put on" as expressed in Ephesians 4:17-32 and Colossians 3.  You want to help your child "put off" the harmful habit (screen time) and "put on" the more beneficial habit.

• Spend far more time reading the Bible with your kids.
• Demand your kids spend more time reading the Bible themselves.
• Catechize your children.  The question / answer method of learning has proven itself over thousands of years.  This will exercise the memory part of their brains, and yours too!
• Memorize Scripture together with your kids.
• Play chess, checkers, or Connect Four.  These old school games are cognitive and relational.
• Do outdoor activities with your kids.
• Engage your kids with adults and other kids at church, at parks, in social functions.  Do not allow them to tote their phones to these activities, or if they do insist they keep them off and in their pockets.
• Serve the less fortunate or suffering.  Compassion and empathy are not optional for Christians!
• Read books and discuss them with your family.  Model and teach your kids how to engage with ideas.
• Model healthy screen habits yourself.
• Have non-negotiable times where all devices are shut down, and set non-negotiable time limits for daily and weekly usage on all devices.  A "digital fast" one day a week would do wonders for all of us, I think!

You'll think of other things, no doubt!  Personally, my own temptation is TV.  I study a lot and read a lot during the day, and want to come home and just "veg out" on mindless screen entertainment.  But God is convicting me to fight this poor habit and try to do some Bible study, or some more relational things with my girls at night.  I'm learning slowly.  Got a long way to go.  Join me in the fight!

I graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1995 with a Major in Human & Organizational Development.  I almost minored in Geology.  I really enjoyed studying the earth, and at that time bought into the geologic epochs, millions of years, and so on.

I'm ashamed now.

Ashamed that my alma mater has in recent years kicked Christian organizations off campus because they refused to allow atheists to hold leadership positions in their clubs!  But also ashamed that I was so naive as to not think biblically about geology and the earth's age.

The recent edition of Vanderbilt Magazine that arrived in the mail had a one page graphic depiction of some ancient sea life.  The caption at the top of the page says, "How to Explore the Pre-Historic Past."  And the subtitle is: "Travel back 450 million years to Middle Tennessee's beginnings."

Huh?  Pre-history?  How can there be such a thing?  How do we explore non-history?  

At any rate, what I found fascinating was how the Geology Professor Molly Miller (I studied under her husband at VU) explained that hundreds of millions of years ago, Tennessee was part of the ocean floor!  The clay soil is a vestige.  The calcium carbonate in the Tennessee rocks came from shells and skeletons of ancient marine organisms.

Well, finally I agree with a secular scientist!  Tennessee was indeed under the ocean at a point in history.  Noah's flood.

Professor Miller says, "It's strange to think of all those animals giving their lives to form our rocks."

For her, the fossils in Tennessee serve no greater purpose than to form rocks.  But they should serve to remind us all of the wrath of a Holy God against sin.  God judges sin.  Don't believe me?  Just ask those dead animals that were buried in rock layers as the waters of the Great Flood covered the entire earth.  If they could speak, they would declare the glory of God as Holy Judge.  They would warn you to flee from the wrath to come!

God judged the world once before.  He's going to do it again one day through His Son Jesus.

Professor Miller, the Lord Jesus left the splendor of heaven and became a man, living a perfect life of righteousness, pleasing God the Father, and He died on a cross in place of sinners who are not righteous and pleasing to God.  He rose again leaving a forever empty tomb in His wake.  He gave up His life to become the Eternal Rock of refuge to all who would cry out to Him for mercy and forgiveness of sins.  

And one day, those Middle Tennessee rocks will cry out to Him, "Glory to the Lamb" (Revelation 5:13).  Don't let those rocks beat you to the punch!  Worship Jesus now and bow down to Him as the Lord of Love and Life.  If you do not, you will go the way of those ancient organisms.  You will be buried in the sea of God's wrath.  I urge you, take God at His Word.  Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

Gossip... Definition...1. Casual unrestrained conversation about another person who is not there..conversation that is demeaning or slandering. 2. Idle talk. Well, boy, am I guilty of this.  So many times in my life.  And my idle talk has caused so much hurt.  Gossip is a weapon of destruction.  We don't see it that way because we don't see the souls of those we are destroying.  We cannot see the deep wounds that our talk causes and many times we cannot see the horrid scars left behind.  I am so thankful for grace that has forgiven me time and time again while it also works to change me.  Why in the world do I ever gossip? I think the only reason that makes sense is that I love it.  Have you ever gotten an adrenaline rush when you heard something that made you go "oh my?"  Well, that is pretty much why we gossip because it fuels us.  It makes us feel better about ourselves.  But really holy people (like me and I suspect many of you) have learned to clothe gossip in robes of righteousness.  We say things like this:

We need to pray for Miss Lori.  She has been really struggling with meanness and I am so worried about her soul.

We really need to pray for our pastor.  He has not been to visit the hospital in months.  People have been complaining to me about him.

We need to pray for unity cause everybody is really upset over the worship (who is everybody anyway...like EVERYBODY?).

These are all forms of gossip.  Come on if you are worried about my soul, then love me and come tell me I'm mean.  Go to your pastor and ask him why he is not visiting.  You might find out you actually don't know as much as you thought.  And if dozens of people are griping about worship, WHY ARE YOU LISTENING?   Well I imagine for the same reasons I do - sinful love of gossip - without regard for the precious souls left behind in tatters.  They are our sisters and brothers, our sons and daughters.  I am going to keep praying for freedom from gossip.  Freedom to look people in the eye knowing that I have not spoken ill of them and shamed God by calling it concern.  I will keep begging for holiness in place of filthy rags. You can help me!  Call me out when I talk about others or when you see me listening while others talk about others.  The Bible uses strong language for gossips... Proverbs 10:18 uses fool; 16:28 uses dishonest whisperer; 6:6-19 says God hates the gossip; 20:19 calls them simple babblers; 11:13 says they reveal secrets. Ex. 24:1 calls them malicious witness. Psa. 34:13 says deceitful. James 1:26 says gossips are people with worthless religion.   Wow!  God forgive ME.  I beg you to change ME.  Thank God for grace that is sufficient for ME.

Still Learning. Never Done. Begging for grace from God.

It was nearly two years ago that the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School took place.  Precious young lives were snuffed out by a man whose heart was evil and deranged.  May God spare us another such tragedy and show us mercy.

The Governor in the aftermath appointed a 16-member Advisory Commission to study the incident and present recommendations for improving security procedures.  After nearly two years, that panel has finally produced a report.  And one of their primary recommendations is that Connecticut needs to crack down on homeschoolers!  

Yes, you heard me correctly.  Now granted, the killer, Adam Lanza, was pulled out of public schools briefly as a teenager by his mom.  But, that was done only upon the recommendation of his own psychologist!  One of the Commission's members, Harold Schuwatz, said, "The facts leading up to this incident support the notion that there is a risk in not addressing the social and emotional learning needs of homeschooled children."

And the sigh coming from all us homeschoolers across this great nation is very, very audible at this time.  Really?  I mean, really?  We're expected to take this commission's report seriously?  One temporarily homeschooled teen commits a crime and so now every homeschooling parent in Connecticut is suspect?  Is this what it's come to?  And of course, the commission pulled the ole "socialization" card.

Well, I cannot speak for other homeschoolers, but socialization is one of the many reasons we do educate our own children!  The socialization I received from the state-run educational system back in the 80s did me a world of ill.  I'm sure it has denigrated in the last 30 years, since the Bible says "Evil men will go from bad to worse."

But I digress.  The real issue here is not to compare homeschools to public schools.  I know amazing godly families and children in both systems, and I know Christ-exalting teachers in both systems too.  The real issue is Statism.  Big Brother is taking massive chomps out of all of us now, dear Americans.  Whether or not a parent educates children at home, or in private schools, or in public schools, or any combo of these, is a right that must be reserved to parents.  It's part of actually parenting the child.  The Bible supports parental rights big time and indeed thrusts the responsibility for teaching and instructing and raising and disciplining squarely on parental shoulders.  God did not command King David to appoint an educational committee to ensure all Israel's children were being taught.  God simply told parents to do that in Israel (Deut 6; Psalm 78).  Ditto for New Testament believers (Ephesians 6:1-4).

So, freedom loving Americans of all educational stripes should be very concerned about such a development in Connecticut.  If parents can truly no longer be trusted to raise children, then do we seriously think the government can do the job any better?  If we allow such invasions and assaults on basic rights to continue, we dare not think we all will not eventually be living under full tyranny.  The State now desperately wants to be God, it seems.  And that never goes well.

Don't take my word for it.  Ask Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4).         

A wise Christian lady in the church I serve was recently sharing with me how much God had used genuine biblical accountability to grow her husband in godliness.  It was a very encouraging message for this pastor to receive.  I've been and will continue to try to convince the men of our church, every man in our church, to join what we call Disciple-Making Disciple Groups (or DMDs).  These are gender-specific groups where 2-3 men or 2-3 women gather together to:

1. Read and discuss the Bible together.
2. Pray together.
3. Practice Christian accountability.

Simple.  Biblical.  And oh so spiritually beneficial.  Some of our men have been doing this for a year or so now.  But the vast majority of our men still are not in DMDs.  Our women, on the other hand, have taken to these DMDs like ducks to water!  But I still believe God is at work in men's hearts, and in His time He will move more and more of them to step out in faith to begin doing real brotherhood together.

So, if you're a man reading this, take a look at what this Christian wife said she wished other men would be asking her husband on a consistent basis:

The Hope of Glory: 100 Daily Meditations on Colossians by Sam Storms is an interesting hybrid of a daily devotional and a commentary.  He walks through every verse of the book of Colossians, but he does it and bite size meditations perfect for someone to start their day thinking deeply about the truth of the Word of God.  The title Hope of Glory is drawn from the text of Colossians itself as is most of the book. Storms is not trying to be exceptionally creative but rather simply helping the reader to understand the Scripture. He provides an excellent help to a careful reading of Colossians. It is stylisticly simple yet theologicaly substantial.  I regularly read commentaries and enjoy having studied theologians walking me through the text, but often they can get rather technical and sometimes chase rabbit trails, or use unnecessarily large words.  This book does get technical at some points and even makes reference to the Greek a couple times, but always in a well explained little chunk and only to make the text even more clear. The 100 daily meditations on the other hand are a breath of fresh air. They can each be read in ten minutes or less so that even the busiest person can take time to read them. The result is a reliable guide to walk you through the entire book of Colossians slowly as you read each of the manageable meditations that encourage and instruct.  This is a great resource for anyone wanting to dig into the Word of God.

I loved reading Sam Crabtree’s Practicing Affirmation and found it to be one of the most practical books I have read in the long time. It's one of those books I'm sure to reread again and again. He convincingly argues for the necessity of praising others in a way that glorifies God while being careful not to flatter or build up pride. His convincing arguments are clearly from the Scripture.  I came across this book while trying to understand the fine line between speaking words that build up and flattering others. I see value in giving compliments, but I've certainly seen how complements can go to people's heads.  I remember listening to a highly acclaimed speaker at a photography conference.  He was giving detailed instructions on how to flatter people, so that they look better in pictures, but I could not help but see how this pride producing speech was sinful.  Sure I want people to look their best in my pictures of them but I'm not willing to flatter in order to make that happen. In Ephesians 4:29 Paul writes, "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." I want to speak words that build up and encourage,  yet I must be very careful because I certainly don't want to build up pride.

Another obstacle is my own pride. Praising others does not come easily to human nature; we like to receive praise, but not to give it. Criticizing comes much easier because we are by nature full of  arrogant self praise and sinfully feel more comfortable looking down on people.  I realized I needed lots of biblical examples to help me find the right balance so that I might appropriately give more positive, affirming, and encouraging words that gives grace to these who hear me. And being novices at this, we also need lots of hand-holding and step-by-step guidance on how to do this in a helpful and God-honoring way. Thankfully, Sam Crabtree’s book is full of both theological warrant and practical instruction.  What he is arguing for is God-centered affirmations.

There is a danger of taking glory away from God by praising mere human beings.  People do it all the time when they fail to give God the praise that He is due.  Evolution attempts to steal God's glory,  much of psychology attempts to steal God's glory, the cultural elite and decidedly secular in our society give God no credit at all and sadly each one of us fail to praise God as much as we ought. Crabtree begins by demonstrating that God is glorified when we affirm the work He has done and is doing in others. In fact, he argues for the profound fact that if we fail to do so, we risk robbing God of praise by not recognizing His work in His people. We keep God at the center of our affirmations by following the biblical pattern of saying, “I thank God for you…” This way, the person is encouraged and God gets the glory.

“But what about unbelievers? Should we praise them for doing good things?” After a helpful exposition of common grace, Crabtree says, “Yes, we should!” but only if it’s regularly set in a wider Law and Gospel context that stirs the unbeliever to seek the only one who is good, that is God (Matthew 19:17). He persuasively argues that honest affirmations even of slow progress can strengthen relationships, open the door to further change, and help evangelism.

Now I don’t want you to get the impression that the book is arguing that we should only say nice things all the time. He is not saying that we should never criticize, but that criticism should come from a life overflowing with affirmation. He addresses the issue of if and how to criticize and I especially enjoyed his critique of the “sandwich method” the correction strategy that puts every criticism between two slices of praise. Crabtree calls that “a baloney sandwich” and offers some more appetizing alternatives. His main point is that our corrections will have no effect if there is no deep, wide, and long context of encouragement and affirmation. He gives many examples from his life to illustrate and enforce the principles, making it much easier to see how this should all look in our own lives and callings.  I certainly see  that I need to grow in this area but I'm thankful that this book has shown me how to do it well.  I praise God for this book and love how He is glorified in it.

My main take away from the book is that God is glorified when I point out His work in others. If we practice affirmation, everyone in our life will benefit and God will be praised. It’s a win-win situation.  Lord help us!

I've read several books by Paul David Tripp and every time I both love it and hate it simultaneously.  I hate it because it is so convicting and shows me my sin and I love it because when I see my sin for what it is I can start to kill it. Tripp thinks deeply about the practical matters of life and how the Bible affects ordinary mundane moments.  I recently read Relationships: A Mess Worth Making by Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp an unsurprisingly I have to give it a high recommendation.  Below are some of my favorite quotes from the book.  I believe they will give you a taste of why this book is worth reading.

"Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t just make your relationships better overnight? We often think that if God really cared for us, he would make our relationships easier. In reality, a difficult relationship is a mark of his love and care. We would prefer that God would just change the relationship, but he won’t be content until the relationship changes us too. This is how God created relationships to function. What happens in the messiness of relationships is that our hearts are revealed, our weaknesses are exposed, and we start coming to the end of ourselves. Only when this happens do we reach out for the help God alone can provide. Weak and needy people finding their hope in Christ’s grace are what mark a mature relationship."

"I confess your sins to myself with bitterness. I can’t believe she did that to me!  I confess your sins to another person in gossip. “Let me tell you what she did to me!”  I confess your sins to God, seeking vengeance. “God, when are you going to do something to the person who hurt me?”  I confess your sins to you in anger. “How dare you do such a thing to me?”

"We would easily settle for our own definition of personal happiness when God’s purpose is nothing short of conforming us to the image of Christ!"

"Humility enables us to see our own sin before we focus on the sin and weaknesses of another. Do you hold others to a higher standard than you do yourself? A gentle person is not weak, but someone who uses his strength to empower others. A gentle person can use strength without damaging those he is trying to help. Do people regularly feel bruised in their relationship with you? A patient person is someone who places the needs of others higher than, or at the same level as, his own. He doesn’t come with a self-centered agenda. A forbearing person is someone who does all this even when provoked. In other words, people who are patient and forbearing are humble and gentle even when they are provoked or when the investment they have made in a relationship turns sour."

"The highest joys of relationship grow in the soil of the deepest struggles. Struggles are not obstacles, but instruments in God’s hands. Every struggle is an opportunity to experience God’s grace yourself and give it to the other person."

"God will take us where we have not planned to go in order to produce in us what we could not achieve on our own. He will lead us through the hardships so that we will become more and more like Him."

The Gospel According to Jesus: What Is Authentic Faith? by John F. MacArthur is a thorough and refreshing look at how the Bible teaches that truly trusting in Jesus means following him as Lord and Savior.  We don't really trust Him if we don't trust Him enough to obey His commands.  MacArthur goes through passage after passage to demonstrate the overwhelming fact that Christianity is not just a ticket to heaven, but rather a radical life change in which we submit to Lord Jesus each day.  We cannot have Jesus as our Savior if will not repent and have Him as our Lord.

"Matthew 4:17 records the dawning of Christ’s public ministry: “From that time [the imprisonment of John the Baptist] Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’"

"Repentance is not a one-time act. The repentance that takes place at conversion begins a progressive, lifelong process of confession (1 John 1:9). This active, continuous attitude of repentance produces the poverty of spirit, mourning, and meekness Jesus spoke of in the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3 – 6). It is a mark of every true believer."

"“You turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God” (1 Thess. 1:9). Note three elements of repentance: a turning to God, a turning from evil, and the intent to serve God. No change of mind can be called true repentance if it does not include all three elements."

"When Peter gave the gospel invitation at Pentecost, in the first public evangelism of the postresurrection era, repentance was at the heart of it: “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38). No message that eliminates repentance can properly be called the gospel, for sinners cannot come to Jesus Christ apart from a radical change of heart, mind, and will."

"He is Lord, and those who refuse Him as Lord cannot use Him as Savior. Everyone who receives Him must surrender to His authority, for to say we receive Christ when in fact we reject His right to reign over us is utter absurdity. It is a futile attempt to hold on to sin with one hand and take Jesus with the other. What kind of salvation is it if we are left in bondage to sin?"

The Gospel According to Jesus is a great resource to help you think deeply about how the Gospel changes lives.  It is a must read for the serious student of the Word.