I recently wrote regarding how the study of apologetics is important for providing reasons for the hope you have in Christ, especially when that person needing them is yourself. Dark seasons are part of life. They come and go seemingly without notice. They need not, however, catch you off guard and unprepared.
Resources abound to help you bolster your defenses. The number of resources is often overwhelming. It can leave one wondering exactly where to begin such a journey.
Today I am sharing twenty-one resources that feed my mind and help me think things through. These books, podcasts, and websites help me grow in my understanding that there truly is no place else to go but Jesus. They help remind me that He did not intend to leave any other option available.
Read moreAnfechtungen is the German word Martin Luther used to describe his depression and anxiety. This condition famously beset Luther and plagued him with dogged determination, causing him to question everything, including his own salvation. This struggle with darkness and hopelessness would eventually yield to the everlasting glory of God. It would spring forth, by God’s loving hand, the Reformation for which Luther is famous.
But wrestle with this foe Luther did. It came and went throughout his life. It is with this aspect of the lives of great men with which we can most aptly empathize–their sufferings.
We all walk through our own seasons of Anfechtungen. Each experiences the dark night of the soul at some point. For many the darkness doesn’t lift with the rising sun.
Several years ago, I fought my battle with a dry and weary soul bereft of the feeling of God’s nearness and love. I felt abandoned and without hope in this world. The words of Scripture were dry to my ears, and I felt my prayers to be the same before the Lord.
Read moreTelevision steals much of the time one would otherwise spend reading and learning. This is true of me this past month. Football season is back and pulls me away too often of late. I did, however, read and listen to some outstanding things throughout September. Below I share two I commend wholeheartedly for your edification.
Read moreMy favorite thing about reading books is their propensity to contain great quotes. Each new work makes a generous contribution to my collection of quotes.
In the closing chapters, of Charles Johnson’s The Way of the Writer he discusses the writer’s need for an inquisitive mind. “Most of the ideas expressed by writers today are not new.” Johnson said, “Far too many writers are simply unaware that an idea they believe is original was actually thought and expressed—and presented with eloquence and sophistication—more than two thousand years before they were born. Writing well is thinking well. That necessarily involves knowing—and caring about—the best thoughts of others.”
Read moreSometime in the late Summer / early Fall of 2001, I had surgery on my left shoulder. It injured it playing football. It was a consequence of being a small boy playing a big man’s sport. The surgery mended ligaments that caused pain and slight dislocations. They immobilized the arm for several weeks, the number six coming to mind. Injuries always seem to take six weeks to heal. I was set free from my brace, only to jump into a routine of physical therapy. Physical therapy sessions took place in the predawn hours of the early morning.
On the morning of September 11th, 2001, I rose early and attended my scheduled physical therapy session. I remember little of what I did that morning. I only remember using a machine that is only described as a bicycle driven by arm power instead of legs. As I climbed into my mom’s car after changing clothes, she told me that a plane hit the World Trade Center.
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