Theology, opinion, fiction, and the occasional limerick.
Author’s note: Back when I was running a website called “Best of Brazil”, I would regularly post interesting facts and stories from Brazil. Of all of the things I shared there, this has to have been my favorite. Enjoy! Our story begins when Silvia Renate Sommerlath was born in wartime Germany, to a German father…
In our first article in this series, I shared some of my own journey in the biblical languages, and included some resources that have helped me along the way. The second article focused on the personal and ministerial benefits of studying Greek and Hebrew. To conclude this series, I want to share how I have…
In my previous article I shared a little of my personal journey in biblical languages, and some of the resources that have helped me along the way. Today I want to talk about how a working knowledge of the original languages – even at my own admittedly limited level – has been a tremendous help…
There was a time when I was a member of the tribe whose eyes would glaze over and who would glance at their watches every time a pastor would say from the pulpit “now the Greek here is interesting…” Just keep it relevant, keep it contemporary, and keep it in English – these were what…
Ever since I was a teenager my greatest spiritual hero has been Adoniram Judson. I’ve mentioned him before in this blog. I recently did a short video for a group of teens in New York State about his life. He even gets a shout-out in Missionary Max and the Jungle Princess. For those who may…
June 18th dawned bright and sunny in Upstate New York. I stepped out onto our porch and began my stretches, preparing for a leisurely run over the dirt roads that lead to and from our house. As I started to jog my phone buzzed. It was a text from my brother Daniel, asking me to…
“Some buildings have collapsed in New York.” Those words were spoken to me by my wife at around 9am on September 11, 2001. They barely registered in my mind as I rolled over and pulled the covers up over my head. I had worked the overnight shift at McDonalds, and was trying to squeeze in…
For a little light-hearted change of pace this week, here’s a short story I did recently for one of my Philosophy classes. The assignment was to write a story containing certain theories of education put forth by Robert Gagne and Albert Bandura. This, translated and adapted from the original Portuguese, was the result. ____________________ Friday…
I go weeks without reflecting on the difference in the quantity of melanin between my lovely wife and myself. I really do. Then somebody on Twitter has to go and weigh in on the subject. This week it was a blue-check named Clayburn Griffin, who responded to a tweet featuring non-PC comedian Bill Burr and…
At the outset of this piece, let me say that I know I will be accused of “slippery slope” argumentation. So let me explain my thought process this way: suppose that several students in a school came down with a vicious stomach bug – vomiting, diarrhea, the whole nine yards. And suppose that you observed…