I have not lived in the state since 1985, but Oklahoma is my home state. I graduated from both high school and college in the Sooner state. Since the night my grandfather played harmonica on the first radio broadcast in the state, the Gantz family has identified with Oklahoma.
Love is like a river that replenishes the human spirit, but moral norms provide boundaries so that the river is not dispersed abroad but retains its strength and power.
We Can’t Stop the Crash, But We Can Pick Up the Pieces
Barring a mighty work of God, we are facing a societal collapse of epic proportion. The church needs to stop bemoaning this collapse and start preparing to do spiritual disaster relief when it finally hits.
– Dave Miller, SBC Voices
Facing the Truth
Jesus is making us into something. C. S. Lewis wrote that God is making us into “little Christs.” We all ache for the day when we’ll be free of our sins, our bad habits, our bitterness, the things about us that we think ugly or undesirable. But perhaps the road of sanctification will be an easier one when we recognize in ourselves the sin of self-consciousness, the sin of reputation management, the sin of lying to ourselves. To live our lives with a pretense of self-sufficiency, strength, and have-it-togetherness is to diminish the visible work of God’s grace.
– Andrew Peterson, The Rabbit Room
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Click on the image to read of how Christians in Syria are holding forth Christ as the only hope in this war-torn country. Pray for our brothers and sisters as they bear the name of Jesus.
Syria has seen more violence and bloodshed than many of us could ever imagine. The U.N. estimates that more than 70,000 people have died in the past two years of unrest. Buildings have collapsed after being bombed, it is unsafe for mothers to take their children outside in many areas and many families have been torn apart in this brutal war.
And yet the church remains in this place, which seemingly has no hope. A church that has united together, to be the shining light of Christ, in an area darkened with despair. Different churches with different denominational backgrounds have come together to reach out to those in their neighborhoods who need clothes, food, water and most importantly the Word of God.
Syrian Christians know that the only hope that they have for things to change in their country, is in Christ alone. So they have asked Christians from around the world to join with them in prayer tomorrow, May 11th.
When Mother’s Day Is Hard
This Mother’s Day may come as yet another reminder to women everywhere that they don’t have something they desire. Another year of miscarriages, infertility, or even waiting for a child through the adoption process. Whatever the unfulfilled desire, it tugs at your heart and plagues your mind.
– Trillia Newbell, The Gospel Coalition
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I am very disappointed in you, South Carolina.
— Frank Gantz (@fgantz) May 8, 2013
This was my tweet when I learned that South Carolina had elected Mark Sanford to Congress. Sanford is the former governor who resigned two years ago for disappearing into South America with his mistress. Not only was he guilty of infidelity but also of financial issues and of leaving the state without a chief executive. He confessed that he had “made a mistake.”
It seems that each generation of Christians has a focal point. That focal point or points involves much conversation however Christians gather. The churches talk about it. Preachers preach about it. Authors write about it. Conferences promote it.
It seems to me that the two current points of interest in evangelical Christianity are “the gospel” and adoption. Can anybody really count the number of books which have been published on the gospel in the past few years? One of the most recent organizations and conferences is called, The Gospel Coalition.
