I was reading the Sunday edition of the Louisville Courier-Journal when I came across this news nugget in the sports pages (I googled it to find out more). Apparently, some guy in Baltimore (he doesn’t deserve to be named here) camped out on the roof of a Baltimore bar as a publicity stunt until the Ravens, the city’s football team, either broke their nine-game losing streak or fired their head coach. The stunt crashed when the ex-wife of the man... Read more
1. There’s a new Death Cab for Cutie album coming out very soon. Follow this link to watch a little video that gives a few details about the record. Death Cab is one of those cutting edge bands who everybody talks about. Sometimes these bands aren’t really that good, but Death Cab is quite good, and they make haunting, melancholy music that is well worth your time. HT: Ethan Meadow 2. Reid Monaghan commented yesterday about my description of science... Read more
We conclude our very brief theology of ambition with a concluding synthesis of the material laid out so far. How, then, should we understand ambition from the texts considered? There’s a great deal to say here. We can start by pointing out the biblical ambition is never to be understood as using God to get what one wants in a worldly or secular sense. In the texts I’ve examined, biblical ambition emerges as an exercise in getting God maximal glory... Read more
Update on December 25th–Merry Christmas to all consumed readers. Enjoy the holiday! We pick back up in our biblical consideration of ambition. On Wednesday, I’ll give a concluding synthesis. 1. Gen. 1:26-28 the call to take dominion2. 1 Chron. 4:10 Jabez’s bold prayer3. 2 Chron. 1:7-13 Solomon’s ambitious prayer for wisdom4. Nehemiah an example of godly ambition5. Matthew 28:18-20 the call to take spiritual dominion6. 1 Cor. 10:31 life as an exercise in biblical ambition7. Hebrews 4:16 the invitation to... Read more
Okay, so it’s not actually December 21, but I was out of town the past few days taking care of job stuff so I’m giving you my links a couple of days after they were originally scheduled to hit. The “Spiritual ambition” stuff picks back up tomorrow. 1. I highly recommend this strange and at times hilarious video depicting the internship program at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. I did this internship under Dr. Mark Dever, and I... Read more
I’m going to give you several different texts to think about in relation to my topic. Today and tomorrow, we do a study of biblical material. After that, we synthesize the material. 1. Gen. 1:26-28 the call to take dominion2. 1 Chron. 4:10 Jabez’s bold prayer 3. 2 Chron. 1:7-13 Solomon’s ambitious prayer for wisdom4. Nehemiah an example of godly ambition5. Matthew 28:18-20 the call to take spiritual dominion6. 1 Cor. 10:31 life as an exercise in biblical ambition7. Hebrews... Read more
In some evangelical circles, piety is equated with passivity. The holiest person is the one who sits the stillest, waits the longest, and does the least. Somewhere along the way, godliness became equated with doing very little, with sitting on one’s hands, with praying for hours while sitting for the same. This version of the Christian life leaves much to be desired. Christians have always struggled with the tendency to pit prayer and meditation on Scripture against action. Those who... Read more
1. Richistan–A pop sociology book on America’s “new rich” economic class. I’m just a little ways into it, but it looks very interesting. I’m not sure why, but I love pop sociology stuff. The study of culture has always drawn me, and I enjoy finding out what the broad mass of people are doing and why they’re doing it. I don’t really enjoy sociology as a discipline, as I think it gets a little out of hand and is rather... Read more
1. There is no weekly link list this week. I want to leave up my tribute to my grandfather. I was honored and encouraged by the comments left yesterday, and though I realize that some people will already have read this memoir for my grandfather, perhaps there were some out there who did not. I wrote this piece not simply to reflect on my Grandpa, though, but also to prompt thought in my readers’ minds about the legacy that they... Read more
I recently experienced for the first time the death of a close family member. My grandfather, Daniel Dustin, passed away a week ago. He was a Christian, a faithful husband and father, and a great Grandpa to his five grandchildren. In the following paragraphs, I remember him. Those who can read it all will catch a brief glimpse of what made him great.Daniel Dustin—Grandpa to his grandchildren—was a great man. I will remember him by reflecting on his life through... Read more
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