I am writing this on the eleventh day of Advent, so my thoughts this month have been especially drawn to the coming of True Light into this dark world. Why did He come? What eternal purposes were involved? To me, one of the most profound statements on this subject is found in John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The incarnation speaks of the revelation of glory, grace, and truth. Each of those words merit deep meditation, but I want to reflect especially upon the third one: truth. God’s eternal purpose in sending His Son into the world was to express truth.

I suppose it should be obvious that we live in an ocean of lies. Our entire world lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19), who is the very father of lies; there is no truth in him. Yet, I find among even the strongest of believers (as well as in myself) a tendency to believe things which are patently false, such as finding identity and security in the accumulation of possessions. I am feeling more secure when I see the Dow rising, and I am finding my self-worth diminished because my Droid 3 is now over three years old and is slower than my friends’ IPhones. Lies, lies, lies! [Read more…]

It’s easy for a group to be united when there are few differences among the individuals. (“Isn’t it nice that we all think and look alike? Let’s congratulate ourselves for our unity.”) And it is easy to be divisive in a group whose individuals represent diversity in some way. (“Those guys just don’t know how to dress like us cool dudes do.”) The real challenge to human nature is finding ways to be united around real, fundamental truths while recognizing and even valuing differences. This may be one of the most difficult problems facing any community, one that only the gospel can genuinely solve.

One of the eight Core Values of Westlake Christian Academy is “Unity in Diversity” – respecting and celebrating variety within God’s family while treasuring the truths which unite us (Ephesians 2:13-18; Philippians 4:2-4; Revelation 5:9-10; 7:9-10). We believe that the gospel destroys human barriers, enabling all believers to stand in unity on a level plane before the cross and receive equal forgiveness. Recently I wrote a piece here on diversity vs. elitism in Christian education, which became my most widely read post yet. That piece dealt primarily with the desirability for a diverse student body. Now it is time to take up the other side: unity. This particular core value appears to be two in one, and we mean it to be. We do not want one without the other. [Read more…]

Education is without a doubt one of the hottest topics of conversation in America. Everyone seems to have an opinion about it and often expresses frustration about its many problems. One thing is sadly clear: the state of education among average Americans is on the decline, and among the economically disadvantage the situation borders on hopeless. As the recent documentary, “Waiting for Superman,” pointed out, very few real solutions are being proposed, and those which become realities actually serve a very small population. [Read more…]

I confess: I like coffee. No . . . I LOVE coffee. When I was a kid, I used to wonder why my parents kept a pot on the stove all the time (obviously before Keurig) and were constantly pouring another cuppa. But having become a man and put away childish things, I now have a deep appreciation for that black stuff. My morning routine, without fail, includes a very early trip to the kitchen for my wake-up jolt. Then I am set, eyes wide open, senses charged, brain in gear, ready for the day.

I have another morning routine that took me years to habituate but brings me great joy. I take that cup of coffee to my favorite chair, open my Bible, and read and pray. It’s so wonderful to draw close to God in the morning while it’s still quiet in my life. Afterwards, I often feel like I have recharged my spiritual batteries and am ready to face the challenges of the day. God’s talked to me and I have talked to Him. Yes! That’s what I need to get Him to bless me all day long, right? Wrong!

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My wife and I love to hike. Not only does it afford us healthy recreation, but it takes us to some of the most breath taking scenery imaginable, vistas which are only accessible by foot. And, import ant for us, hiking costs so little. So, imagine that we are out trekking across some farmer’s field when my staff makes a hollow sound on the earth. We stop to explore, and we find a box buried just below the surface, but off the beaten path. Upon opening it, we discover it is loaded with precious stones and currency worth more than we can imagine. What to do? [Read more…]

I consider myself fairly passionate about true Christian education as the most effective way to prepare the next generation of believers for Kingdom work. The word “true” is important because there is much that goes under the guise of Christian which is not truly Christian. There are schools which call themselves Christian who do little to challenge students to confront their faulty belief systems and help them embrace a God-centered view of reality. [Read more…]

One of my favorite movies to watch with children is Monsters Inc, primarily because so much of the humor in the dialog is too sophisticated for children to fully appreciate, yet appeals to me. I asked a group of young people to name some of the main characters in that movie, and none of them responded with what I thought was the key: the door. Doors are all through that movie, and every major turning point in it deals with a door—a closet door to be exact. That door gave access for all the monsters into children’s bedrooms to extract their scream energy.

Most Christians view the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ very much as a door. [Read more…]

Recently one of our teachers shared with me the transcript of a radio commentary by Paul Kengor, a professor at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. Dr. Kengor was commenting on the film God’s Not Dead, which is about a Christian college student who confronts an atheist professor.

I’ll admit that when I first saw the film trailer, I thought that the producer was a bit over the top. Were there really college teachers who were that in-your-face about attacking Christianity? [Read more…]