In His Grip

Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones.  (Psalm 116:15 NASB) I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.  (the Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:31 NASB) Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"   (John 11:25-26 NASB)      Does anyone die too young?      By some accounts, Jesus did.  I have friends and family members for whom many have said that they died an untimely death or that they 'died too young'.  As for me, in many ways I feel that I did not die young enough, so to speak.  Please indulge me to explain.      As I write this, I am in Mt. Lebanon, PA, where my family lived from 1983 - 1999.  When I was in college, my parents went into full time ministry here in the Pittsburgh area...

"Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. " (Jeremiah 3:15 NASB) And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had given to Israel. (Nehemiah 8:1 NASB) More than any other Scripture, these two passages have informed my prayers regarding church life in recent years. In short, I pray for feeding 'shepherds' (pastors) and hungry 'sheep' (church members). It continues to be a joy to watch that unfold in reality. Perhaps no environment I have ever been in exemplifies this better than the Shepherds' Conference . Even though it is simply a three day event for pastors and church leaders, it provides opportunity both to interact with many people from a very healthy church, but to be exposed to rigorous and challenging Bible teaching among many healthy and hungry church leader...

The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body. (Ecclesiastes 12:11-12 NASB) My love for books seems to grow over the years, even while the time to read them seems to diminish. Thankfully, God is building into me a delight for His word in the Bible (Psalm 1:1-2), which enables me both to rejoice in His sovereignty over my time and to cultivate wisdom and discernment in all that I read. Perhaps you can relate to the sentiment of Michael Card in the song 'So Many Books', which you can enjoy listening to here: May God continue both to satisfy us with and to create deeper hunger for His word. So, how do I choose which books to read with such limited time? I am influenced first by my time in God's word, secondly by family members, thirdly by my church pastors a...