Calvin's Prayer

I'm very blessed to be editing a book of Calvin's prayers, taken from his commentaries. Before each lecture on a particular passage, he would offer up a prayer that in some way related to that passage. This beautiful prayer was the last one that I worked on before going home yesterday:



"Grant, Almighty God, that as Thy church at this day is oppressed with many evils, we may learn to raise up not only our eyes and our hands to Thee, but also our hearts, and that we may so fix our attention on Thee as to look for salvation from Thee alone; and that though despair may overwhelm us on earth, yet the hope of Thy goodness may ever shine on us from heaven, and that, relying on the Mediator whom Thou hast given us, we may not hesitate to cry continually to Thee, until we really find by experience that our prayers have not been in vain, when Thou, pitying Thy church, hast extended Thy hand and given us cause to rejoice, and hast turned our mourning into joy, through Christ our Lord. Amen."

I've been feeling like my prayers for the church have been in vain lately, and Brother Calvin has encouraged my heart with this reminder.Thankfully my feelings do not determine what God hears or how he responds.

By the way, this book will be available, Lord willing, for Reformation Day from Reformation Heritage Books.Watch for it!

The New Amish Fiction?

How many heaven-and-back books will Christians continue to send to the bestseller lists? Based on the seemingly endless fascination with the Left Behind series, Amish fiction books, and Karen Kingsbury-one-plot-repeated-endlessly-Christian-romance titles that continue to be popular, we haven't even begun to see how many nearly dead people will go to heaven, come back, and tell us all about it.

And isn't that just how God's providence works? He brings people to heaven when they nearly die and then sends them back so they can sign contracts with a Christian publisher and make millions from the books, spin-off products, and films. Ugh.

Anyway, if you've ever wondered about this new, strange genre of Christian literature, read Tim Challies's excellent blog post to see why these books don't bolster faith; rather, they undermine it.

If you want to read a truly excellent book on what the Bible has to say about heaven, I recommend starting here. Author and pastor Dan Schaeffer has never nearly died, gone to heaven, and come back to tell us about his experience. He has thoroughly studied what the Bible has to say about the subject, though, and writes warmly and instructively about what God's Word tells us about the better country we will one day inhabit.

Happy Father's Day, Dad

Four generations: Dad, Katie, Annette, Grandpa Walborn

If you ever wondered where my lack of height came from . . . .

Even though he didn't give me at least 66 inches, he gave me many more important things: an example of hard work, excellence, the importance of living Christianly, music genes, and a love for pizza and homemade ice cream.

This is the man who would drive home about 13 miles after working hard all day, pick me up, and drive back about 40 miles (13 of which were the same miles he had just driven) to take me to piano lessons at Bowling Green State University's Creative Arts program for high school students. This is one of my favorite gifts. I still use it today. In fact, I should practice because I'm playing piano in church tomorrow. And he taught me that we never offer up music in worship that hasn't been thorougly practiced.

Happy Father's Day, Dad! You are a blessing!

Lessons Learned from a Conflict

1. Never let a conflict go without attempting to resolve it as soon as possible. Even if you feel like you've been dealt the greater offense, your obligation is to go to your brother or sister and seek peace. As my pastor put it once, "The two parties involved in a conflict should be in such a hurry to make things right that they pass one another on the way to each other's house."

2. If the conflict does not involve you, stay out of it. Don't join a "side." The less you know about it, the better. However, if you do know of wrongdoing you should stand for what is right.

3. Don't assume the worst of a Christian brother or sister, but don't ever forget that anyone can fall into sin. It's easy to put people on a pedestal and follow them blindly--especially our leaders. But we know from Scripture that even the most steadfast, committed Christians fall into sin. Think of Peter, who on one occasion confessed that Jesus is the Christ and on another denied Him three times. Think of David, who respected the authority of Saul, even when he was trying to kill him. But David committed adultery and to cover it up, murdered one of his mighty men. If you know of a conflict between two parties, assume the best of each, and, if possible, talk to both parties (without gossiping) to see why they are taking the position they are taking. Never decide that one party is right and one wrong after hearing only one side of a situation, especially when both sides have a reputation of integrity and godliness.

4. A disagreement with someone does not release you from your obligation to behave lovingly and respectfully toward that person. Even if you believe you have been wronged, you have an obligation to uphold that offender's good name and treat him or her Christianly.

5. If you are a party in a conflict, don't go on a campaign to win people to your side. Do what you must do to address the matter with the other party.

6. In a church conflict, sin causes division. Those who have the courage and integrity to address the sin are not the dividers.Those who sin and refuse to repent when they are confronted are dividing the church.

7. If a Christian brother or sister approaches you because you have sinned in some way, and he or she is calling you to repentance, listen, and if there is any merit to what that person is saying, repent. This person's coming to you is God's grace extended to you. To despise His messenger and the message is to despise His grace. His greatest judgment, perhaps, is when He allows people to remain in their sin without warning them to turn from it.

8. Even if a party has sinned grievously and seems to be getting away with it, remember that God is judge, and He knows what that party has done. He will take care of it--perhaps not in this life, but in eternity. Do not become bitter, but take comfort. The Lord loves the righteous, and He knows all things.

9. It is never loving to ignore another's sin, to assist that person in covering it up, or to pretend that person's sin is insignificant. Those who have the courage to expose sin with integrity are the ones who are showing love to that person. "[Love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth" (1 Corinthians 13:6).

10. Do not give in to the strong urge to take vengeance. Do not seek to ruin the person who has offended you by telling others what you think that person's offense is. If you seek to damage another's reputation among other Christians, often the result is that your reputation is ruined and you damage yourself. I personally witnessed an example of this recently where two members of an organization had a disagreement. One of the members wrote a letter to the rest of the members of the organization, exposing what he believed was the other member's "sin." It backfired on the letter writer; the rest of the organization's members no longer had any respect for the letter writer and gladly released him from his membership in the organization. They continue to hold the attacked member in high regard because they respect him for keeping his disagreement with the other member out of the organization. In fact, they admired him for the way he treated the person with whom he had a disagreement with respect and professionalism.

11. Don't discuss the conflict issues with your spouse close to bedtime. No one is helped by a lack of sleep.

12. Pray for the people with whom you have differences. It will help you to maintain a Christian attitude toward them.

13. Always remember that if your conflict is with other Christians, they belong to Christ. Treat them as He would.

14. Surround yourself with godly Christians who are not a part of the conflict. They will encourage you and help you maintain a proper focus.

15. Remember that you are a pilgrim. This conflict is for now, but not forever. It will end. We have been promised trials and tribulations in this life, but the Holy Spirit is with us and will comfort us.

Love One Another

From a sermon titled “Christians a Chosen Generation, a Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation, a Peculiar People,” by Jonathan Edwards:


"Christians ought to bear with one another. They are the children of the same universal church of God; they are all the children of Abraham; they are the seed of Jesus Christ; they are the offspring of God. They are all of one family and should therefore love one another as family. It is very unbecoming those who are God’s offspring to entertain a spirit of hatred and ill will toward one another. It is very unbecoming to be backward in helping and assisting one another and supplying each other’s wants—much more, to contrive and seek one another’s hurt, to be revengeful one toward another. Let Christians take heed so to walk that they may not dishonor their pedigree. You are of a very honorable race, more honorable by far than if you were the offspring of kings and had royal blood in your veins. You are a heavenly offspring, the seed of Jesus Christ, the children of God. They that are of noble race value themselves highly upon the honor of their families, to dwell on their titles, their coats of arms, and their ensigns of honor and to recount the exploits of their illustrious forefathers. How much more careful should you be of the honor of your descent: that you in nothing behave yourself unworthy of the great God, the eternal and omnipotent King of heaven and earth, whose offspring you are!"

Upon Finishing The Hunger Games

It took me awhile, especially to get through the third book, but I've now joined the masses who have read The Hunger Games. I'm not going to review the books--too many other people have, and I have nothing to add--but I do have some reflections on this reading experience.

1. The premise of The Hunger Games is that the powerful Capitol oppresses the districts. It isn't a profound insight, but it occurred to me that for oppressors, there are no authorities or standards. Oppressors remain oppressors because there is no one else they answer to. There are no standards, and there is no rule of law. The goal of an oppressor is to remain in the position of oppressor, so whatever it takes to do that, the oppressor does. For the oppressor, to submit to an authority greater than itself is to give up being an oppressor. This is as true for an individual who seeks to dominate another as it is for a government, like in the novels.


 2. As a parent, I probably would not allow a child under high school age to read Hunger Games without parental guidance because there is just too much for immature readers to be distracted by and to misunderstand. The violence of the Hunger Games, the romance between Katniss/Peeta/Gale, Haymitch's drunkeness, the death and destruction of war--I've shuddered a couple of times when I've observed younger-than-teens reading these books without adult supervision. A niece-in-law who is a high school English teacher used the books in her classroom. As a former English teacher, I think that is a great forum for these books because there is much to discuss and learn, and probably most readers (even high schoolers) will miss some of the important themes and critiques without the guidance of a more experienced reader.

3. A society whose highest priority is entertainment will finally entertain itself to death. Author Suzanne Collins captures this well with her Hunger Games, which seem to tell the story of what happens when Survivor meets Lord of the Flies. 

4. In Katniss, Collins has created an interesting character whose self-awareness grows over the course of the three novels. Finally, toward the end of the third novel, Katniss sees herself for who she is--as she locks the door of her house, she observes, "The evil thing is inside, not out." And here's a great discussion point for Christian readers. Katniss realizes this about herself, as all of us who are ultimately saved must. When we realize this about ourselves, we recognize that the answer to this problem is not within us but outside of us as we look to Christ for our salvation. So here's the discussion question: What does Katniss do when she realizes that her problem is her evil, disgusting self? Where does she turn for help?

5. I'm not sure I want to see the movie. It seems ironic to me that a book that critiques a society's lust for violence and entertainment would be portrayed in a medium that will be entertaining its audience with violence.

6. A coworker/friend of mine who convinced me to read these books considers the possibility that Peeta is a sort of Christ character. He points out that in each book, in some way, Peeta dies and resurrects, and he sees other parallels. Peeta is also the character who sees Katniss for who she really is--and loves her anyway. Just interesting.

7. People who say that no one should read these books because of the horror of the Hunger Games are missing the point. That a society would be entertained by watching people kill one another for sport is horrific--but it is clear that the author is in no way suggesting this is a positive thing. Just the opposite: she's warning us about where an entertainment-addicted mindset can lead a culture.

8. Christians who bash this novel because it does not live up to Christian standards, because the characters do not behave Christianly, or because the author doesn't always uphold Christian values are treating the book unfairly and superficially. While we need to think Christianly about what we read, and we must be discerning and not allow non-Christian thinking to shape our ideas, we can't expect an author who isn't writing from a Christian perspective to always communicate truth, to always give us characters who make moral choices, and to provide us with a literary world where Christian values triumph.