Tried With Fire

The following are my favorite books for 2018. They are listed in the order read/listened. Writing on the Wall: Social Media, the first 2000 years - Tom Standage. This was a fun and informative book and makes the case that there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to human communication. Proof? People literally wrote on the walls in Pompeii to give their status and receive comments on their posts. There is an entire chapter devoted to Martin Luther and the spread of the reformation via the newest media of the time - pamphlets that were affordable by the general public in German. Excerpt  here . Walking Through Twilight: A Wife's Illness, A Philosopher's Lament - Douglas Groothuis. This is a moving book of a husband's love and grief for his wife as he walks with her through her dementia. His struggles and lament are real, but so is God's keeping. Excerpt here The Search for Christian America - Mark Noll, George Marsden, Nathan Hatch. The dream team of Ch...

"And even to your old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you" (Isaiah 46:4). The year is very old, and here is a promise for our aged friends; yes, and for us all, as age creeps over us. Let us live long enough, and we shall all have hoar hairs; therefore we may as well enjoy this promise by the foresight of faith. When we grow old our God will still be the I AM, abiding evermore the same. Hoar hairs tell of our decay, but He decayeth not. When we cannot carry a burden and can hardly carry ourselves, the LORD will carry us. Even as in our young days He carried us like lambs in His bosom, so will He in our years of infirmity He made us, and He will care for us. When we become a burden to our friends and a burden to ourselves, the LORD will not shake us off, but the rather He will take us up and carry and deliver us more fully than ever. In many cases the LORD give His servants a long and...

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 Merry Christmas!

This constant undivided union of two perfect natures in Christ's Person is exactly that which gives infinite value to His mediation, and qualifies Him to be the very Mediator that sinners need. Our Mediator is One that can sympathize with us, because He is very man. And yet, at the same time, He is One who can deal with the Father for us on equal terms, because He is very God. It is the same union which gives infinite value to His righteousness, when imputed to believers -  the righteousness of One Who was [and is] God as well as man. It is the same union which gives infinite value to the atoning blood which He shed for sinners on the cross - the blood of One who was [and is] God as well as man. It is the same union which gives infinite value to His resurrection: when He rose again, as the Head of the body of believers, He rose not as a mere man but as God. Let these things sink deeply into our hearts. The second Adam is far greater than the first Adam was. The first Adam was only ...

1 Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand; ponder nothing earthly minded, for with blessing in His hand Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to demand. 2 King of kings, yet born of Mary, as of old on earth He stood, Lord of lords, in human vesture - in the body and the blood. He will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food. 3 Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads its wings on the way, as the Light of light descendeth from the realms of endless day, that the pow'rs of hell may vanish as the darkness clears away. 4 At His feet the six-winged seraph, cherubim, with sleepless eye, veil their faces to the Presence, as with ceaseless voice they cry, “Alleluia, alleluia! Alleluia, Lord most high!”

Poetry would probably be near the end of the list of my favorite literary genres. I remember a few classic children's poems, a little Lewis Carroll, and snippets of Shakespeare, but that's about it. But after seeing excerpts of Rachel Joy Welcher's poems on Twitter, I was moved, and I wanted to read more. I'm not going to quote entire poems but the last few lines from two of them. If you have suffered loss, these are for you. If you have found that life goes on after sorrow because of Christ, and not just a half-life but a life worth living, these poems are for you. From I Used To Think He Had The Kindest Eyes: And the only gift I can thank you for is the contrast you will forever provide between faithless and Faithful, secrecy and intimate light; I am alive in spite of your sin against me. And from the very last poem in the book, Old and New: It's ok to not look back. It's ok to look forward to the future with a broken heart and a limp. ...

I have many fond memories of reading to my daughter when she was little. "Read it?" was one of the things she would ask many, many times a day. I loved children's books, so it was a chance to revisit all my favorites as well as find new ones. As a parent, I knew it was good to read to her so she would eventually learn to read herself and express her thoughts in words, but I had no idea of the learning processes that were going on in her young brain. From Reader, Come Home : "When you read to your children, you are exposing them to multiple representations - of the sounds or phonemes in spoken words, of the visual forms of letters and letter patterns in written words, of the meanings of oral and written words, and so on across every circuit component. The young brain is setting down re-presentations of this information every time the child hears, sees, touches, smells books" (pg. 131) "It is the stuff of conceptual and linguistic development (even tho...

It's been a while since I've gotten back to blogging regularly. Part of it is I'm still in mourning for my dad. I think grief is going to be a steady stream that flows below the surface. It may rise or ebb, but it's always there. Another part is having too many thoughts in my head to organize in a coherent manner and reading too many books simultaneously. So in lieu of a pensieve, this post will be the repository for the random thoughts that have been swirling in my brain based on my recent reading. I wonder if my lack of concentration is due to my use of social media. I'm halfway through Reader, Come Home by Maryanne Wolf. (Ironically I learned of the book via @scifri on Twitter.) Wolf is a neuroscientist and reading specialist. She is concerned that too much screen reading is impairing our ability to read deeply which impairs our ability to think and feel deeply. She is coming from an evolutionary perspective, so she believes that our reading brains evolved o...

1. Sometimes a light surprises The Christian while he sings; It is the Lord Who rises With healing in His wings: When comforts are declining, He grants the soul again A season of clear shining, To cheer it after the rain 2. In holy contemplation We sweetly then pursue The theme of God’s salvation, And find it ever new; Set free from present sorrow, We cheerfully can say, Let the unknown tomorrow Bring with it what it may. 3. Tomorrow can bring us nothing, But He will bear us through: Who gives the lilies clothing Will clothe His people, too: Beneath the spreading heavens No creature but is fed; And He Who feeds the ravens Will give His children bread. 4. Though vine nor fig tree neither Their wonted fruit should bear, Though all the fields should wither, Nor flocks or herds be there Yet, God the same abiding, His praise shall tune my voice; For, while in Him confiding, I cannot but rejoice. Words: William Cowper, Kevin Twit Music: Kevin ...