Are Youth Sports a Sound College Investment?
Parents who consider youth sports a pathway to college athletic scholarships will want to read “The Rising Costs of Youth Sports, in Money and Emotion”, which appeared last week in The New York Times. George Washington University’s Mark Hyman offers sound counsel: “Parents think these investments are justified; they think it will lead to a full ride to college. . . That’s highly misinformed. The percentage of high school kids who go on to play in college is extremely small. In most sports it’s under 5 percent. And the number for kids getting school aid is even smaller — it’s 3 percent . . . What I tell parents is if you want to get a scholarship for your kids, you’re better off…
Read MoreThe Thought of Death – A Sanctifying Influence
Louis Berkhof points out that death is not necessary for sanctification, for Enoch and Elijah were made perfect without experiencing death. Nor is it absolutely essential for delivering us from this present evil age, for God may do this without the instrumentality of death, as he most certainly will for those who remain alive at Christ’s Second Coming (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). Rather “[t]he very thought of death, bereavements through death, the feeling that sickness and sufferings are harbingers of death, and the consciousness of the approach of death, – all have a very beneficial effect on the people of God. They serve to humble the proud, to mortify carnality, to check worldliness and to foster spiritual-mindedness. In the mystical union…
Read MoreClinton Boulevard Underpass
Today the dogs and I took our Sabbath stroll to the Clinton Boulevard railroad underpass. Workers say the road will reopen in a week and a half. We’ll see. The widening looks good. As one of the workmen put it, we’ll no longer trade mirrors with oncoming traffic.
Read MoreA Prayer for the Lord’s Day, January 18 (based on Psalm 17)
“O GOOD LORD, the only searcher of men’s hearts, howsoever we are compassed about on all sides with infinite dangers, yet we beseech thee to show forth to us thy favour and thy good will, without which we should immediately perish. Suffer not, O Lord, that our hearts be bent on things earthly, but that we may follow thy commandments, and ever aspire to the heavenly bliss which Jesus Christ, thy Son, has acquired for us by his own blood. AMEN.” – Prayers on the Psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1595 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2010), 51.
Read More“Far better no pulpit at all than a pulpit that did not, as its chief business, solemnly address men as lost sinners, summon them to repentance, faith, and humility, and entreat them, in Christ’s stead, to be reconciled to God.” – William G. Blaikie, For the Work of the Ministry. 1896 (Solid Ground, 2005), 5.
Read MoreExtreme Pastoral Care – Mission at Nuremberg
Christian ministers seek the lost, proclaim God’s gospel of faith and repentance to all who will listen, and refuse pastoral care to no one who seeks it. Their commitment leads them to minister in dark places of human depravity. The prison complex of the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany was such a place. Housed there in 1945-46 were prominent architects of the Nazi war machine and its “Final Solution,” standing trial for crimes against peace and humanity. With them was Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor and United States Army Chaplain Henry Gerecke, who provided pastoral care to the Protestants among them. At age 50 Gerecke joined the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps. His years of leadership at City Mission in St. Louis were distinguished by care for the poor, the sick, and…
Read MoreiPhone/iPad App – The Book of Psalms for Worship
I enthusiastically sing the Psalms, both in private and public worship. Therefore, I am grateful to live in a time when new resources encouraging their use appear regularly. My friend John brought to my attention the iPhone/iPad app for the RPCNA’s The Book of Psalms for Worship. If you are unfamiliar with tunes in the Psalter, the app enables you to view printed metrical psalms while singing along to suitable tunes. The obstacle of not knowing the tune is overcome. Many books and articles extol the benefits of Psalm singing. Dr. Terry Johnson makes the case with clarity and brevity. Let me add another benefit of singing the Psalms: it promotes a pace of reading the text suitable for understanding, reflection, and prayer. During my four…
Read MoreA Prayer for the Lord’s Day, January 11 (based on Psalm 15)
HEAVENLY FATHER , who has adopted us to be thy children, grant that we, passing through this corrupt world in such integrity and cleanness that none have any just occasion to complain of us, may in the end be participant of that celestial heritage which is prepared for us in the heavens, through Jesus Christ, our only Saviour. AMEN. – Prayers on the Psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1595 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2010), 50.
Read MoreI’m spending the week with these veteran pastors discussing nuts and bolts issues of Christian ministry. Our topics in the Doctor of Ministry class include the theology and practice of pastoral care, preaching, Presbyterian church government, and worship. Standing next to me (l-r): Clint Covington, Blackjack Baptist Church, Troup, TX; Eric Zellner, First PCA, Indianola, MS; Jim Gorski, Three Rivers PCA, Covington, LA; Steven Wright, Bethel PCA, Lake Charles PCA. Seated (l-r): Richard Cooper, Ponte Vedra PCA, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL; Hunter Brewer, The Mid-South PCA Church Planting Network; Don Sampson, Crossroads PCA, Dumfries, VA
Read More“It is much easier to lay down the law from the pulpit than to exemplify it in the home. We find it simpler to give directions about the way than to lead others in the way ourselves. . . . . God’s most powerful visual aid in the education of mankind is a consistent Christian.” – John R.W. Stott, The Preacher’s Portrait (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961), 97.
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