Christian Living

Lessons from a Small-town Wedding
The gospel of John tells the story of Jesus’ first public miracle, when He changed water into wine at a wedding in the village of Cana. (John 2:1-11) It wasn’t even very public at that; He didn’t reveal His power at the Temple in Jerusalem, or in the halls of Roman government in Caesarea, but…
Temptation – And How to Fight It
Our church is studying the life of Christ right now, and we just looked at His time in the wilderness facing temptation. Although He had divine power, He faced temptation like a common man would have to, without resorting to miracles to solve His problems. The English pastor Charles Spurgeon observed, “God has one Son…
Temptation – The Error-Likely Situation
  When I worked for the power company, I was told to be on guard against “error-likely situations.” When crews were called to deal with power outages, often it was late at night, in bad weather and unfamiliar locations, with everyone tired and under stress. Any of these conditions made it more likely for someone…
Keeping a Journal – Why, and How!
  One of the surprising discoveries of our family life has been the usefulness of keeping a journal or diary -- at least one per family.  (more…)
Interesting Books 2019
This post may contain affiliate links. When you use them to purchase, we receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. I’m a pretty avid reader. It’s part of my daily routine, and longer periods on vacation. Several years ago I started keeping a list of books I’d finished during the year; to…
Can We Get Your Vote for Love, Honor, and Virtue?
  This is the book we wrote by request - so many of our friends and readers asked for a resource they could trust to help their sons understand sexuality and purity in a Christian worldview. And now, it's up for a book award! Love, Honor, and Virtue has been nominated for the Christian Indie Book…
Staying Pure in Engagement
Someone recently asked, Now that we're engaged, it's increasingly hard to stay pure. I mean, we'll be married soon, right? I know it's wrong, but it doesn't seem as big a deal now that it's just a matter of weeks or months. Can you help us think about this the right way? We've been there. The…
Five Things You Need to Know About Your Boys & Internet Porn
"I don't know who else to talk to. My little boy has been watching horrible stuff. I don't know what to do." There are five things we wish all parents knew about internet porn. If they did, there would probably be a lot fewer of these heartbreaking messages for us to answer! (Note, this post…
I Haven’t Kept All My Resolutions Either
  So February comes trudging in sooner than we expected. You history buffs may already know that the ancient Roman calendar started in March, not January – so February was the end of the year to them. The name comes from februum for “purification” because this is when they traditionally got rid of the old…
Transitioning to Spiritual Adulthood
This one is for the teens and twenties. It's hard to write, too. When you're young and healthy, you don't really think about dying. It just seems remote. But two days ago, our sons lost a friend they'd known for years from church and Christian activities. Wilson Brant was just 26 when a car accident…