The Wordsmith Journal Magazine Interview

The following interview was conducted by veteran journalist Mary Nichelson of TheWordsmithJournalMagazine.com and appears at http://www.thewordsmithjournalmagazine.com/interviews.html. Quoting from the site: "Mary supports publishers by interviewing Continue Reading

Considering a Call Amidst the Clamor of Bigger is Better

Dear Students of the Pastoral Ministry: Charles Haddon Spurgeon had it right when he commented on Zechariah 4:10: "It is a very great folly to despise 'the day of small things,' for it is usually God’s way to begin His great works with small Continue Reading

Nativity: Merry Christmas from the Miltons and RTS

Nativity by John Donne Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb, Now leaves His well-belov’d imprisonment, There He hath made Himself to His intent Weak enough, now into the world to come; But O, for thee, for Him, hath the inn no room? Yet lay Him in this Continue Reading

“Do You Get the Picture?”—Classic Christmas Films through the Lens of Creation, Fall, and Redemption

The greatest stories are stories that show in some way the drama of Creation, Fall and Redemption.Such stories are great not merely because that is the very drama that we are all experiencing (or may experience, for of the three movements, only redemption Continue Reading

Christ: His Life Our Supreme Goal

I took our daily devotions tonight from the reflections of F.B. Meyer and his preaching of the centrality of our Savior in a true religion: "Christ is the all and all in–all of our holy religion...not ceremonials, nor the life of active philanthropy, Continue Reading

In the Fullness of Time and the Wonder of Christmas (Galatians 4:4)—The First Sunday in Advent

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4 ESV). Is there anything more remarkably beautiful than seeing the glistening eyes of a child filled with wonder as she looks upon a Continue Reading

Lest We Forget: Rudyard Kipling’s Recessional as Prophetic Poetry for our Own Day

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) really knew how to spoil a party. One would have thought the cryptic faith of Kipling was a devout Calvinism when he wrote the remarkable poem, Recessional, for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897.# For some, the Continue Reading

Delighting in the Law?

"I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart" (Psalms 40:8 ESV). I read the passage this morning and then began to move from Psalms to the Old Testament reading, and then to the New Testament. I had other early morning planning items Continue Reading

Entrusted with God’s Truth to Extend God’s Grace (2 Timothy 2:1-2)—An Inaugural Address

An inauguration is not a coronation. An inauguration is a consecration—a setting apart for the purposes of God. This service is a consecration of our institution, our vision and values, and a consecration of our very lives, with my life intertwined Continue Reading

GIVING IT UP FOR GOD: Preservation and Risk in the Kingdom of God (Luke 17:32)

There Is a rather popular phrase (no doubt of spurious origin, although that is a guess!) that has come into the American vernacular. That phrase is, "giving it up…" One may "give it up" for a comedian as he comes on the stage to give his monologue. One Continue Reading