Thursday Radio Line-Up

November 5, 2009

This morning I’m co-hosting “Today’s Issues” with Tim Wildmon on American Family Radio from 10 AM-12 Noon CST. Our guests today include former NFL star Roynell Young, founder of Pro-Vision, a mentoring program for teenage boys. During his playing days with the Philadelphia Eagles, he was an all-pro cornerback. Now he has ded…

ESV Study Bible

November 2, 2009

For over a decade I’ve been collecting a variety of study Bibles to use in sermon preparation. I can’t say that I’ve got every study Bible on the market because so many new ones come out every year. But I have used (and enjoyed) the NIV Study Bible, the Ryrie Study Bible, the MacArthur Study Bible, the Life Application Bible, the …

All Saints Day

November 1, 2009

This is All Saints Day, one of the finest, most joyful days of the Christian year. It’s the day when we remember and give thanks for all true believers around the world, especially those who have gone before us into heaven. Evangelicals often pay little attention to the Christian year (for various reasons), but this is one holiday that should…

A Final Thanks

October 29, 2009

Here’s a picture of our Holy Land group taken on the Mount of Olives with the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock, and the city of Jerusalem in the background. Having traveled with fifteen people, I can testify that there are many advantages to a smaller group. We all got to know each other, we were able to visit more sites than some of those …

Malcolm and Muhammed

October 28, 2009

We took this picture about 27 hours ago, at 2 AM in the lobby of the Grand Court Hotel in Jerusalem. I wanted everyone to see Malcolm and Muhammed, the two men who worked together to give us such a memorable Holy Land tour. I mentioned a few days ago that Malcolm is a born teacher. On further reflection, I don’t know that I’ve ever met …

Holy Land Pictures

October 27, 2009

On Monday night we gathered in our hotel room and everyone gave us the disks with all the pictures from the trip. The result was enormous–over 5200 pictures taken by 8 people over 10 days equaling 11 gigs of space. I plan to cull out the duplicates and give each person a flash drive with the best pictures. Here are some favorites from our tri…

Remembering Jesus at the Garden Tomb

October 26, 2009

On our final day of touring we started by ascending to the Temple Mount, site of Solomon’s Temple, Herod’s Temple, and the site of Mount Moriah where Abraham offered Isaac (Genesis 22). Since 691 AD it has also been the site of the Dome of the Rock, the third holiest site in Islam. Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammed ascended to h…

A Hectic, Surprising Day

October 25, 2009

We were reminded on Sunday morning of the tensions that lie just beneath the surface in the Middle East. We started the day by leaving the Western Wall in time for our appointment to enter the Rabbis Tunnel (also called the Western Wall Tunnel) that runs underneath the surface of Jerusalem and goes north along the Western Wall and finally exits int…

A Day Below Sea Level

October 24, 2009

A Holy Land tour always takes on a rhythm of its own. In the beginning and for several days, adrenaline keeps everyone running in overdrive. Eventually a combination of jet lag and sheer fatigue from the long days leads to a bit of a slowdown. This is entirely natural, and in large part is due to the fact that you are in a foreign land, seven or ei…

Happy Chaos in Bethlehem

October 23, 2009

We managed to survive our trip to Bethlehem this afternoon, though it was a close call, and not because of anything having to do with politics. In fact, crossing into Bethlehem was very easy indeed. Because of the prevailing situation, our Jewish guide Malcolm could not join us on the trip to Bethlehem. That’s the law and he could be heavily …