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CCEF on the Web
- Dr. Bob Kellemen reviews Mike Emlet's CrossTalk: Where Life & Scripture Meet
- See what Taylor Brooks says,
"Every man should read." - In Light of the Gospel Blog
quotes Powlison's "Personal Liturgy
of Confession" with link to full article. - The Reformed Reader recommends Ed Welch's Running Scared.
- Radio host Kevin Boling
interviews David Powlison - What Is Real vs. What I Feel - C. J. Mahaney
interviews David Powlison (audio)
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Is God Picky?
“When will the other shoe drop?”
She wasn’t angry; she was more matter-of-fact. She wasn’t asking God if the other shoe would drop, she was asking when, and she had good reason to ask. Her life had been one loss after another, and she was confident that each loss meant that God was whacking her for getting out of line. God, she was persuaded, was picky.
The World’s Best Epilogue—Ever
With so much of life being untidy and imperfect, I appreciate an epilogue that brings a satisfying completeness to a complicated story. I’ll even settle for a couple of lines at the end of a movie: Jack’s fortunes were restored, his good name was cleared, and he lived to see many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, which sounds peculiarly like a great Old Testament epilogue. Yes, the end of Job is a winner, but, as we might expect, everything is better once Jesus comes. The epilogue to John’s gospel is the best ever.
What Not to Say to Those Who are Suffering
“It could be worse. Imagine if you broke both legs.”
We have some odd ways of cheering each other up.
Most of our bone-headed comments to suffering people are offered with passable intentions, and most of those comments are judged by their recipients as misguided rather than malicious, but it sure would be nice to improve our record of encouragement in the midst of pain.
For Men: Urgent – Blame-sharing (though women can peek)
There has been a run on blame-sharing recently. Keep an eye out for it. Blame-sharing is the viral mutation of blame-shifting, and it is deadly. Honest, it is deadly.
Interview: Paul Tripp & Tim Lane About Their Book How People Change
How does the gospel bring real and lasting change into people’s lives? In this interview Paul and Tim describe their motivation for writing this book, and how to connect the gospel to real life and bring about change at the deepest level.
A Fascination with Boredom
“I’m bored.” These are loaded words.
“Only boring people get bored.”
I think my wife and I tried that motto at one point with our children when they were young, but it was an ineffective and, yes, a boring response to their boredom. So we began to consider the phenomenon more carefully.
God Is Awake
I woke up with the feeling that someone was in my room. I turned over and about a foot from my face stood my four year old daughter.
Once my heartbeat returned to normal, I checked the clock. It was 3:30AM.
Tabitha was shaking and whimpering.
“Sweetie, lets go into the bathroom so you don’t wake up daddy,” I said.
Tab wasn’t moving too readily, so I scooped her up and helped her use the potty – sometimes the sensation of having to use the bathroom will evoke a bad dream.
She calmed down a little bit and asked for “belly medicine” – that is, a Tums.
“Tab, I can give you a Tums – but I don’t know if that will solve the problem,” I said.
“Shattered Assumptions”
I have recently been reading about those who struggle with “shattered assumptions”. You often find this phrase in literature regarding those who have gone through some type of traumatic experience which has informed or “shattered” their view of life, their future, or their sense of stability and safety.
The Doctor Is IN - Part 7
Counseling and Physiology Class: Neurobiology of Addiction (or, A Good Thing Gone Bad)
In the first chapter of the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s textbook on addictions, Alan Leshner says this: “The brain of someone addicted to drugs is a changed brain; it is qualitatively different from that of a normal person in fundamental ways, including gene expression, glucose [sugar] utilization, and responsiveness to environmental cues.”
Jesus Presented at the Temple
Luke 2:22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy