Recently, I have been focusing my Daily Reflections on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In the midst of this parable, a father demonstrates his extraordinary love for his son by running to embrace him. In the last two decades, whenever I read about the father’s race, I remember something that happened in the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona. It was one of the most moving events I have ever witnessed in an athletic competition. It happened in a semifinal... Read more
An article in USA Today caught my eye: “Harvard weight study leaves taters tottering.” This article begins: “Potato marketers resent a recent Harvard weight-loss study that encourages Americans to bag the spuds, but pistachio growers are nuts about the study’s findings.” The USA Today story is based on a recently published study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health. They looked at potential causes of long-term weight gain, suggesting that eating certain kinds of foods leads to weight... Read more
Part 8 of series: How Does God Guide Us? In my last two posts I’ve been arguing that God guides us through Scripture. For the most part, I’m referring to the way the Bible provides basic truths by which to order one’s life. For example, in many passages Scripture tells us to forgive people, and therefore when we have been wronged by someone, we can know that it’s good to forgive that person. Unfortunately, people can indulge in silly and... Read more
Part 7 of series: How Does God Guide Us? In my last post, I began to discuss different ways God guides us through Scripture. I focused especially on the sort of general guidance for our lives that is present throughout the Bible. From Scripture we know that we should love God, love our neighbors, love our enemies, etc. etc. etc. But what about when we’re facing decisions in which general biblical teaching doesn’t seem to make an obvious difference? The... Read more
Part 6 of series: How Does God Guide Us? In my last two posts I explained that God can guide us through shaping the circumstances of our lives. But I admitted that this sort of guidance is often ambiguous. Circumstances may appear to point in more than one direction at the same time. Or different circumstances might seem to contradict each other. So we need to be able to weigh the events of our lives to determine with greater precision... Read more
God Places the Lonely in Families Psalm 68:1-35 God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. Psalm 68:6 When I read Psalm 68:6, the first sentence of this verse grabbed my attention: “God places the lonely in families.” The Hebrew reads literally, “God causes the solitary ones to dwell in homes.” In context, but literary and cultural, this is not simply a statement... Read more
Here are three photos from my recent trip to New York City. Read more
Part 5 of series: How Does God Guide Us? In my last post I explained that God guides us, in part, through circumstances. In this post I want to tell a story from my own life in which I experienced this sort of guidance. When I was a sophomore in college, I wanted to share my Christian faith with others. But, as an introverted person, I wasn’t likely to walk up to a stranger or even a friend and get... Read more
Part 4 of series: How Does God Guide Us? Yesterday, I showed how Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit guides the people of God. As I continue my series on divine guidance, I’m beginning with this post to address specific ways we are guided by the Spirit of God. Today I begin by noting how the Spirit guides through circumstances. Consider, for example, the following story. In Acts, 16 the Apostle Paul and his colleague Silas were in Philippi, where... Read more
Mark D. Roberts
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It It Possible to Teach the Art of Conversation and Civility?
Alissa Wilkinson thinks so. A writing instructor at The King’s College in New York City and an accomplished writer in her own right, Wilkinson believes it is both possible and beneficial to teach students, not only how to write decent prose, but also how to communicate effectively in today’s world. Wilkinson is especially concerned that her students understand the impact of the Internet on their public lives: Ostensibly, I teach for my students’ future public lives. But the Internet is... Read more