“The finest men in all the world are not to be found in the warm, genial climates, where the earth has only to be tickled with a hoe, and it laughs with plenty; but the strongest and the most enterprising spirits have been found at the back of the north wind, where there are frosts and ice, and long, dreary winters, and men have a hard struggle for a livelihood. They become really men under that stern training. Now, if there were no thorns and thistles, no struggles and no trials, should we have any brave Christians? Should we have any great and noble souls at all? When did the Church yield her best men for her Lord’s service? It was in the persecuting times, when they had to swim through seas of blood to hold fast the truth of Christ. These are silken days, and we have wretched specimens of Christians everywhere; but if the times of persecution were to come once more, with the rough winds blowing, and the whole sea of the world tossed in tempest, we should then find brave sailors who would put the ship’s head to the wind, and ride safely over the stormy billows in the name of the Eternal God.” Spurgeon, C. H.
Isn’t it interesting that God had designed our bodies such that we begin to have intense physical attraction to the opposite sex in our high school and teenage years and at the same time parents are doing their best to avoid having daughters that become single teenage mothers or sons who become dead beat fathers . I’ve often wondered if perhaps God’s timing for marriage is not the same as our culture’s timing for marriage; it has been shifted not based on biblical reasons, but based on worldy reasons such as education, career, aquisition of a house, or other wordly things. On the other hand, God has designed our bodies such that they are ready for marriage and family much sooner.
I totally agree that we should be celibate before marriage, but if you don’t have the gift of celibacy—a life of celibacy for the purpose of serving God—then perhaps it’s unwise to try to force a gift that God has not given. Instead parents can plan for their children to marry earlier and experience the gift of marriage.
It seems that the wider evangelical world might be in for a bit of a shake-up in this respect. Christianity today’s cover story is “The Case for Early Marriage” and Albert Mohler is blogging and supporting it too. I’m all for it too—with a healthy portion of wisdom and discernment. Click here to see the article: “The Case for (Early) Marriage” on Albert Mohler’s blog.
Perhaps only a few of you know that I love the Puritans. My old friends from my school days, or party days, might not know a single thing about the Puritans. Perhaps their name invokes a stereotype of boring, religious people; but I’m more familiar with their writings, which use rich, sometimes poetic language that is full of passion and love for God. What if you can watch stuff like that on your modern flat panel LCD ? Well, there is a DVD lending service called Puritan Picks. I stumbled across it when looking at the redesign of the Monergism website. It looks like something worth checking out for all those who are curious about what a Puritan might pick to watch!
If you are like my wife, when she sees a premium Bible, she thinks, “I’m not spending over $100 on a Bible!” Now Logos is giving away 72 premium Bibles over the next 6 months. Enter and perhaps you may not need to spend a penny. Here’s their ad about this event:
This year, Compassion International brought some people to see the operations in India. I was invited, but at several thousand dollars, I simply couldn’t afford it at this time. They put a short thank you video together for the sponsors. It is very heart warming and encouraging. I cannot put into words how much sponsoring a child has affected me. I strongly recommend sponsoring a child.
Matthew has requested a trombone several times. This latest occurrence happened over the cell phone; I often play my trumpet during breaks at work. I had finished playing and called Jenn, who hands the phone over Matthew who wanted to talk to me.
Matthew: What are you doing daddy?
Me: I was playing my trumpet.
Matthew: I want a trombone.
Me: You are too small for a trombone. You need to wait until you get bigger. A trombone is too big for you.
Matthew: I want a small trombone, like on Jack’s Music Show. They have small trombones.
Me: Those are just pretend trombones for fun. They don’t actually play.
Matthew: Trombones are actually made of dirt. Somehow, trombones come from dirt.
Then suddenly a busy signal. I try to call back but Matthew doesn’t answer. Later, Jenn mentions that Matthew couldn’t figure out how to answer the phone when I called back, but he continued to talk as if he was talking to me.
Matthew: I’m sorry daddy. I was waiting for you and I love you and I forgive you.
