I am saying all this especially for you Gentiles. God has appointed me as the apostle to the Gentiles. I stress this, for I want somehow to make the people of Israel jealous of what you Gentiles have, so I might save some of them. Romans 11:13-14 I can think of lots of good reasons to share the gospel with people. As a pastor, I regularly preached the good news of God’s love in Christ to those who were not... Read more
Years ago, I taught my daughter how to be a “good” hiker. But, in the process, did I do a bad thing? I have always loved hiking. I don’t need to dangle from ropes, trudge for miles with a hefty backpack, or scale Mt. Everest. But I enjoy getting out into nature, walking on quiet forest paths or along alpine streams. I can cover quite a few miles in a long day hike, which allows me to get far away... Read more
Heather Holleman, writing for The High Calling, offers some thoughts on a different kind of fast . . . a fast from ladder climbing. She begins: A few months ago, exhaustion and confusion sent me to some older, wiser women for prayer. We talked about how driven I’ve been all my life to succeed and really make a name for myself. When did this fight to climb the ladder begin? Even in first grade—six years old!—I remember the thrill of... Read more
Romans 9:19-24 Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” Romans 9:20 In this section of Romans 9, Paul is explaining God’s freedom and authority to do what he wills, even if it doesn’t quite make sense to us. Though we may not especially like our lot in life, it’s not our place to argue with the... Read more
Not real bucks, unfortunately, but photos of real bucks. As I was sitting on my back patio recently, a couple of bucks decided to have lunch from my back yard. I thought I’d share the photos with you, just for fun. Read more
Recently, I have been posting excerpts (Part 1, Part 2) from a fascinating article by Dorothy Sayers entitled “Why Work?” To review, here are Sayers’ first two propositions: The first [proposition], stated quite briefly, is that work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do. It is, or it should be, the full expression of the worker’s faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental and bodily satisfaction, and the medium... Read more
Recently, I have been blogging on the coming “tsunami” of online education. In various configurations, dozens of top universities are banding together to offer top quality online education experiences. For now, these will be made available to anyone free of charge. What do leading educators think of this? According to the New York Times, “This is the tsunami,” said Richard A. DeMillo, the director of the Center for 21st Century Universities at Georgia Tech. “It’s all so new that everyone’s... Read more
Ed Cyzewski has a thoughtful, challenging article on The High Calling. “Work is a Battlefield” tells the story of Ed’s unexpected experience of spiritual warfare at work. He offers suggestions about how we might fight such warfare in God’s way. Lots of wisdom and encouragement here, especially if you’re in a “battle” in your workplace. Read more
Yesterday, my blog post was entitled: “Online Education: Here Comes the Tsunami.” In this post I summarized an article in the New York Times that describes a recent announcement by several major universities. They are teaming up with Coursera, a for-profit company founded by two Stanford professors, to offer a wide array of free, online courses. Today, another tsunami wave broke on our cultural shore. The Times featured an article by Tamar Lewin, “Berkeley to Join the Free Online Learning... Read more
Online education is a tsunami and it’s about to inundate us. It is changing education and how we think about – and maybe also what we’re willing to pay for it. A couple of months ago, MIT and Harvard announced the formation of edX, a joint venture that will offer top quality online learning to millions of students throughout the world. Can’t get into MIT? Can’t afford Harvard? Not to worry. You can “take” MIT and Harvard classes online for... Read more
Mark D. Roberts
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