Now that all my children are adults, I can tell you that raising the five of them was very often like a game of full-contact musical chairs. Without the chairs. It wasn’t so much about the wrestling—though believe me, there was plenty of that. But it was more about the music. Always even more of that. All three of my sons are in music ministries now and the two daughters are musical too. When Daniel, my youngest, was around twelve, he started drumming. He drummed on tables. He drummed on … [Read more...]
A mess of baby powder, sin
Our son Andrew really likes baby powder, sugar and salt. The only place he doesn’t like them is in the containers they usually come in. He loves for them to cover the floor, bed, toys, clothes, dishes and basically every surface and room in the house. I am still amazed at how quickly the latest supply of baby powder wound up on him, all over our bedroom, one of our cats and parts of the hallway. I had briefly turned away from him to fold some clothes when all of a sudden I smelled a very … [Read more...]
Guiding our children through election years
What a challenge we have at this time in our nation’s history to teach our children God’s way! A recent cartoon shows a mom and dad looking at their children as each child called the other a liar. The mom looked at the dad and said, “It was your idea to have them watch the debate!” Most will readily agree that children learn much by example. As parents and teachers try to teach children to love and respect their country, how can this be done with the example our leaders are setting … [Read more...]
A rising tide that exceeds affordability
The Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee met in mid-February in Nashville. While we heard several reports, one was incredibly convicting. We had just heard about the “reset” for our International Mission Board. We were confronted by the reality that hundreds of our missionaries were leaving the field because of multi-year shortfalls in budget receipts. Thankfully, no debt was accumulated in the process of spending down the reserves to keep missionaries on the field as long as … [Read more...]
The infallibility of Scripture
This is the third in a series of columns on the inspiration, inerrancy, infallibility, and sufficiency of Scripture. When Christians say the Bible is true, we often use terms to describe the manner in which God has spoken to us through His written Word. One such term is “infallible.” But what does that mean? Incapable of error By infallibility, we mean the original manuscripts are incapable of error. This is because the Bible is inspired, or God-breathed, resulting in “autographs” that … [Read more...]
Crony capitalism threatens our religious freedom
Missourians who cherish religious freedom are one step closer to securing it after the Missouri Senate endured 39 hours of frivolous filibustering by eight Democrats to pass Senate Joint Resolution 39 (SJR 39), otherwise known as the Missouri Religious Freedom Amendment, by a vote of 23-9, on March 9. The amendment now awaits two committee hearings, floor debate and a vote in the Missouri House of Representatives, which is expected to pass it by an overwhelming majority. Once passed it will … [Read more...]
Matching up sensible, humble thinking
People often ask what it was like when my kids were teens and pre-teens. Five kids in seven years means they’re all rather teen-ish at the same time. When people ask that question, I tell them it was basically about a ten-year search for some missing shoe, plus about seven-thousand school fundraisers. And also a whole lot of sweeping up breakfast cereal. Some of it from under their beds. Semi-interesting factoid: “Total” is a relatively healthy breakfast cereal, I hear. But not when it’s … [Read more...]
The inerrancy of Scripture
This is the second in a series of columns on the inspiration, inerrancy, infallibility, and sufficiency of Scripture. When Christians say the Bible is true, we often use terms to describe the manner in which God has spoken to us through His written Word. One such term is “inerrant.” But what does that mean? Freedom from error The inerrancy of Scripture means the Bible is fully truthful in all of its teachings. P.D. Feinberg writes in the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, inerrancy is … [Read more...]
Jason Allen: Following the railway to a deeper prayer life
I had been anticipating a warm throwback to yesteryear when I boarded a train in Kansas City bound for Jefferson City to preach at the legislative prayer service marking the opening of the state’s legislative session. My trip, however, fell short of a Humphrey Bogart movie. At first glance, it was obvious Amtrak is government subsidized. In my car there were only three of us out of about 30 seats. The other cars were even less populated. Given the emptiness of the train, and the lack of … [Read more...]
Missourians: Your phone calls may save our religious freedom
I have written nearly 400 of these columns as editor of The Pathway and I am certain that this is one of the most important. The importance does not lie in my prose or in who I am. It lies in its subject matter. By the time you read this, the Missouri Senate will have begun spirited debate on one of the most essential pieces of legislation in its history. It is known as Senate Joint Resolution 39 (SJR 39), or the Missouri Religious Freedom Amendment. If approved, something that at this … [Read more...]
Counterfeit Love
“Love you!” “Love you, too!” I hear these words almost every time my children phone me and we say goodbye. I also hear these words often at church as members say goodbye after meetings. It is common to hear these words in public places, as well. One might think there is a lot of love going around! Perhaps many of the love messages we hear are sincere. That is such a good, wonderful, feeling to know that Christian brothers and sisters in the church family and children in the … [Read more...]
Matching up sensible, humble thinking
If happiness is having all the laundry done, I’m pretty sure no one has ever been happy. Laundry success is too often defined as digging through the basket of clean clothes for two socks that match. As opposed to digging through the heap of the dirty laundry you’re composting on the floor. Of course, you still may end up wearing socks that don’t match. But hey, maybe it’s all part of an elaborate plan to keep us laundry-humble. Yesterday it took me all day to put away my smallest load of … [Read more...]
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