On Friday morning I’m doing an interview with Nancy Turner on WMBI-FM in Chicago from 10-11 AM CT. We will be taking calls from listeners so I hope you will join us by calling in with your questions and comments….
An email arrived from someone who wonders if their past is so bad that God will not forgive them. Have they sinned so much and so greatly that their sin is quite literally unpardonable? The answer is not hard to find. There is such a thing as the unpardonable sin. Jesus spoke of it in Matthew 12:30-37. And in answer to the question, I can say with …
For the last several days all eyes have been focused on Hurricane Gustav as it barreled its way across Haiti, the Caymans, and the western edge of Cuba on its way towards the northern gulf coast. When we heard about the oncoming hurricane and the resulting evacuation order, we thought about our friends Brian and Tracie Howes and their son Brennan w…
Yesterday we received a note from a pastor in Northern Ireland. Here’s what he said:Greetings my dear brother from Belfast Northern Ireland. May I please thank you for your Bible sermons and studies. They have been a real blessing to me as a Pastor, who also needs feeding. Would you please give my greetings to your people and please…
For the last 36 hours, all eyes have been focused on the Gulf of Mexico as Hurricane Gustav slowly makes it way toward the northern gulf coast, probably making landfall just west of New Orleans sometime tomorrow. Three years ago Hurricane Katrina devastated southern Louisiana and the Mississippi coast. With rebuilding far from complete, another mas…
This is a glorious day in our house because football season has returned. People who have heard me preach know that I often say, “Football explains everything,” and it does. Last year, on this same Saturday, the opening day of college football, I wrote about what Ole Miss football means to our family. With us, as with many families, it&…
For 40 years Rev. Jacob E. Eppinga wrote a column called “Of Cabbages and Kings” for the Banner magazine published by the Christian Reformed Church. He wrote his final column, at the age of 90, earlier this year. He went to be with the Lord on March 1, 2008. Knowing that he was dying of cancer, he summed up his faith and his fears and h…
A friend who has gone through a hard time sent me a list of things he has learned about forgiveness. His list started me thinking about forgiveness. Most of what follows comes from my friend, but I have rephrased a few things and added a few items of my own. This is obviously not a comprehensive statement about forgiveness—just a place to beg…
This morning I found this deeply moving version of “Be Thou My Vision,” one of my all-time favorite hymns. Wonderful words set to a beautiful Irish melody. Listen and be blessed. If you know the words, sing along. Augustine said, “He who sings, prays twice.”
When I was preparing yesterday’s blog entry, I kept thinking about a famous sermon by 19th-century Scottish preacher Thomas Chalmers. When I say the sermon is famous, I mean that it is reprinted even today in the books of great sermons. The sermon is called The Expulsive Power of a New Affection (pdf). Even though the language and style is ou…