Weekend Links 2-16-18

A weekly roundup of links of interest. Commentary included at no extra charge.

Pitchers and catchers report this week which means baseball season is right around the corner. The big story this offseason has been the extremely cold free agent market. George Will offers some very sensible analysis why teams aren't going to spend money on expensive free agents. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is the start of new trend.

This interview with Roy and Karen Prior on marriage is well worth reading. I found myself thinking a lot about how I met my wife and how much God has blessed our family in reading their story.

Some helpful advice here on how to become a morning person.

This is interesting: The Phantom Tollbooth and the Redeeming Power of Words.

This sounds like a dream job to me!

An important article from Russell Moore: How to Teach Boys to Respect Women.

Now we know the origin of "Who's On First?"

Who's on First? Apparently, Abbott.
Maybe the confusion all began when Costello plunked Abbott in this game played on June 19, 1927? pic.twitter.com/8XgG3XQLC9

— Tom Shieber (@tshieber) February 13, 2018

More productivity advice: why your phone's airplane mode is not just for flying. Because I use my cell phone as my work phone it's hard for me to disconnect at times. But this is a terrific idea.

Fun fact of the week:

All proceeds go to refurbishing the castle where the shop is located.

A post shared by Mental Floss (@mental_floss) on Feb 11, 2018 at 9:13am PST

Weekend Links 12-22-17

Here are some interesting things I found on the internet this week.

Why has "Fixer Upper" been such a success? 

Viewers tuned in to ‘Fixer Upper’ to be reminded that—in spite of all the voices insisting otherwise—maturity, family, and faith are possible. They tuned in for hope.

Read the whole thing.


Classy move: last week the St. Louis Cardinals traded outfielder Stephen Piscotty to the Oakland A's so he could be closer to his mother who is battling ALS.

This is interesting: how It's A Wonderful Life went from box office dud to Christmas classic. It was because of a clerical error.

This past Sunday, Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, known as the busiest airport in the United States, suffered a power outage stranding thousand of passengers. Chick-Fil-A, which is famously closed on Sundays, sprang into action to feed the stranded travelers.

In light of the recent elections some Christians are reticent to use the term evangelical. An interesting read. Also, a helpful explanation from Tim Keller why there is such hesitation among Christians to call themselves evangelicals.

Christmas time in our house means lots of Hallmark Channel movies. Based on the ratings, we're not alone. Here's the reason why Hallmark movies are such a big deal this time of year. (Hat tip: Acculturated)

When we're not binge watching Hallmark Christmas movies, we are working our way through Season 2 of The Crown. One of the most surprising elements is the emphasis on Queen Elizabeth's faith. Like a lot of other people I am surprised by how popular the series is here in the United States.

This is neat: Russell Moore on how his ministry was twice saved by A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Instead of selling their multi-million dollar mansion and making a profit, Texas Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels and his wife decided to donate the property to underprivileged kids instead.

One of the biggest dilemmas parents face this time of year is whether to tell their kids the truth about Santa Claus.  The best thing to do is not lie to your kids.

Finally, my daughter introduced me to this version of the a Christmas classic this week. It's quickly becoming one of my favorites.

Weekend Links 12-1-17

Some random items of interest for your weekend reading:

There's a reason McDonald's french fries aren't as good as they used to be.

Looking for a unique Christmas gift idea? Try this list of the best board games of the year. We bought Codenames last year based on their recommendation and have loved it.

Productivity matters: maybe it's time to give up on goals. Related: focus on processes rather than outcomes.

Do some parents share too much about their children online?

An interesting interpretation of the new adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express.

Recommended reading: I just finished The Vanishing American Adult by Ben Sasse. It is an excellent read and well worth your time.

If you've ever been to a baseball game, you're likely familiar with "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". But did you know there are actually two verses to the song?

Have a great weekend!

Daily Links 4-15-14

Links of interest served daily. In today's edition: seven habits from Navy SEALs, getting the most out of family dinners, Prince George's first overseas trip, a lineup of baseball books, and more.

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7 Habits from Navy SEALs. While the word habit normally would have negative connotations, as this article explains, there are habits that can be good habits to adopt.

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Ann Voskamp on why you have to keep falling in love. 

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How you can use family dinners to create a positive family culture.

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It was fun while it lasted: the rise and fall of the bullpen car.

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Speaking of baseball, here's a fascinating list of 33 non-fiction baseball titles you should consider reading. There went my to be read list. Truth is, I have read 10 of those titles. Still lots more to do though.

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Prince George made his first overseas trip to New Zealand last week with his parents William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Honest Toddler filed this hilarious report on the trip and helps us figure out what the young prince was thinking about in all those photos taken of him.

Woolf Crown/AFP - Getty Images

Daily Links 4-2-14

In today's edition: churches remade to become bookstores, things good dads say, notes to write to change your life, and more.

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What happens when a church building is abandoned? In some cases, they are converted to libraries and bookstores with magnificent results. (Hat tip: Book Riot)

Selexyz Dominicanen by Merkx + Girod in Maastricht, the Netherlands

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A brief and fascinating history of one of the most popular game shows of all time: Jeopardy!

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Some excellent advice to fathers in this article entitled 7 Things a Good Dad Says.

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More unexpected ways to work smarter, not harder. Some good advice here and things that I will have to think about.

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This is interesting: scholars are studying Shakespeare's works to determine what his beliefs are about God.

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The idea of writing notes seems a little old-fashioned, but here are five notes to write that could change your life.

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Can you summarize the American Revolution in a tweet? A group of historians gave it a try.

Daily Links 4-1-14

In today's edition: advice for parents, remembering Opening Day, life lessons from Monopoly, valuing church membership, and more.

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The hardest thing about becoming a parent is the wealth of often conflicting advice you receive before (and even after) you become a parent. But this is a good summary of things that many parents would agree that they wish they knew before becoming a parent.

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A collection of Ansel Adams photographs that were discovered in the National Archives.

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Is college for everyone? In part 2 of their series at Art of Manliness, the guys sort through the pros and cons of attending a four year college. 

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Yesterday marked Opening Day in Major League Baseball for many teams. Mental Floss has a nice look back at the opening of four iconic ballparks. Below, Wrigley Field (formerly Weeghman Park) in April 1914.



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Speaking of baseball, this season marks the adoption of instant replay for disputed calls. As this study shows, the umps should be glad that teams can't use replay to argue ball and strike calls.

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This is an interesting post: 12 ways life is like a game of Monopoly. Who knew that a game could be so educational?

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With the release of Noah and Son of God it's a good time to weigh good versus bad faith-based films:

Christian parents would not let their high school children see the movie of Crime and Punishment if it were simply described to them or flashed in front of them during the previews before another film. But those same Christians do let (and encourage) their kids to read it as a novel because of the universal recognition of Dostoevsky’s masterful storytelling and the unmistakably Biblical anchor his stories were moored to. People love Dostoevsky – who never shied away from confronting humanity as it is – because what he produced was great art.

I’m not suggesting that people of faith who care about what their kids’ minds are filled with should run willy-nilly into every crowded theater to see whatever is fashionable at the time. Hardly! 

But what I am suggesting is that while we work to inspire and equip new generations of artists who share our values to boldly venture into the pop-culture fray, we must not miss opportunities to introduce our worldview into the cultural conversation.

When Christians are perceived to be hiding from the tough questions and human struggles we’re all faced with, they are dismissed and ignored (along with their message of hope). Art has the power to transcend and speak to the soul. But it must be able to meet people on their level before pointing them upward.

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Is church membership required?

This month we will be inducting new members into the most honored body the world has ever known: the church of Jesus Christ. The initiation fee for this club is so high that no human could have ever paid it; God himself had to pick up the tab. The benefits of the club never expire. The fellowship of the club is unmatched; you receive intimate access to the Lord himself (John 17:23). 

With such benefits, you'd think church membership would be held in infinitely high esteem. But for many reasons, Christians seem to think less of it than ever before. If you're one who looks upon church membership lightly, then I invite you to reconsider. 

When we hear the word membership, we immediately think of a club. A member pays dues, comes to meetings, and fulfills the obligations of a club member. When you move, or no longer have time for the club, you simply withdraw your membership and move on.
The Bible says membership is much more intimate. "For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body" (Eph. 5:29-30). 

To be a church member means we are a member of Christ's body—just like your finger is a member of your body. His blood runs through us. His Spirit animates us. His will moves us. He feels our pain, cleanses us when we get dirty, nurses our wounds, and cherishes us with pride.

Leaving the church is not simply leaving a club. When you walk away, you dismember yourself from the body. Jesus and the rest of the body sorely miss you, and bleed after your departure. You cut yourself off from your only source of life and nourishment. Like an amputated hand, you will slowly bleed out, wither, and die.

Daily Links 3-25-14

In today's edition: what's so special about John Calvin, the biblical meaning of success, a look at The Auschwitz Escape, what we're teaching our kids when we don't know they are watching, and more.

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What's So Special About John Calvin? An interesting look at the famed theologian.

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This might be the best selfie ever. Charles Dickens' great great great grandchildren pose with a statute of their famous ancestor.

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Speaking of Dickens, here's a collection of nine great pieces of Dickens swag.

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Things we are teaching our kids when we don't know they are watching. It's a humbling post.

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This is fun: Seattle's mystery Coke machine.

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One of my favorite novelists is Joel Rosenberg. He has a new historical fiction book entitled The Auschwitz Escape that has just been published. In this article, he provides some insight into what inspired him to write the book. It looks fascinating.

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These are the most ridiculously overdue library books you're likely to ever hear about.

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How the Bible defines success. When you look at this closely you realize what a tremendous lie we have all been told about what success means.

Daily Links 3-24-14

Good morning. Here are some links to help start off the week. In today's edition: features of the New Calvinism, marketing the moon, things we should get rid of to help our kids, and more.

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John Piper recently spoke at Westminster Seminary and spoke on the features of New Calvinism. Tim Challies has a nice summary of his address. 

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If you are looking for a way to waste time on the Internet, here's the best way I know how.

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On the other hand, here are three ways to get more out of every hour. 

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Marketing the Moon: The Selling the Apollo Lunar Program appears to be a fascinating look at public relations in the era of the Space Race.

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The perfect thing for a book lover: literary greeting cards.

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George Washington didn't lose his temper often but there was one time when it was reported he swore "like an angel from heaven."

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9 things we should get rid of to help our kids. Some very sound advice in this article.

Daily Links 2-26-14

In today's post: a father's advice to his daughter, Opening Day should be a national holiday, how to choose a college major, and more.

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A dad of three has some wise words for his daughters about truth and beauty. (Hat tip: Acculturated)

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14 fun facts you may not know about The Brady Bunch.

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Dave Barry has launched a campaign for men to reclaim their manly skills. While this is funny it's a little serious at the same time.

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Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith has launched an online petition to have Opening Day declared a national holiday. That is a brilliant idea.

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Reflections on the Gettysburg Address:

Lincoln made three great points. He reminded us who we had resolved to be at our founding, invoking the ideals that fostered our revolution. He then mourned with all Americans that the cost of preserving the union that cherished these ideals had been so great. He concluded it was the task of the living to honor the dead by a renewed and continuing devotion to “the new birth of freedom” they had given their lives for. It was as though he was saying, “We must get it right, and never cease trying. What has happened here must never be repeated.”

And so we must keep faith with the compact that Lincoln invoked on a battlefield in Pennsylvania. We must keep the memory of that event and what emerged from it alive and ever present to our minds.

“In the midst of the continual movement that agitates a democratic community,” Alexis de Tocqueville once wrote, “the tie that unites one generation to another is relaxed or broken. . . .” This is a great danger, and surely one that Lincoln recognized in the context of the lessons of Gettysburg.

How do we strengthen the ties that bind? We can do it by reading Lincoln’s words. Sometimes, we can also do it by acting on them.

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Is it worth the money to go to college? Part of the answer to that question lies in what a student decides upon as a major. Here's a handy cost benefit guide to help a student select their major.

Daily Links 1-23-14

In today's link roundup: an unlikely Oscar nominee, crazy interview questions, words invented by Shakespeare, and more.

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One of the more surprising Oscar nominees is the theme song for the film Alone Yet Not Alone. This is the story behind the song and why it has taken Hollywood by surprise.

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Reading this post A Letter to the Family of My ICU Patient brought a tear to my eyes. I have spent a fair amount of time in the ICU over the past few years with both my wife and late mother-in-law as patients. I have always thought that ICU nurses were special. This post only reaffirms that belief. (Hat tip: Challies)

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This is without a doubt the craziest list of interview questions I think I have ever seen. I'm not sure how I would react if someone asked me one of these questions in a job interview.

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Alton Brown shares some of his tech essentials as well as how to get around Twitter's 140 character limit.

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Beware of parenting advice on the internet. (Hat tip: Home Front)

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William Shakespeare was a genius with language including inventing a number of words that are in common usage today. Just goes to show that there still is value in studying the Bard's works.

Daily Links 12-5-13

In today's roundup of links: Ben Franklin's awesome feats, Bill Cosby on blue comedy, heroic acts, and more.

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He held off six enemy tanks and several waves of infantry all while firing from the top of a burning tank. The incredible heroic story of Audie Murphy.

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Ben Franklin was a man on many achievements. Here's a list of some his lesser known feats.

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Be afraid of everything! A warning to parents not to be overprotective.

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Bill Cosby recently appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and took Stewart to task for his use of profanity in his stand-up routine. But this also speaks to a larger point about our culture:

Cosby was alive when things like segregation and institutional racism still legally existed. The way most cultural influencers today would have you think about it, anything that comes from a time before Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” topped the charts is not worthy of remembering because everyone was super racist back then. The “snobbery of the present,” as C.S. Lewis called it, tends to dismiss or discount anything that came before one’s current day.

And so here is an elderly black man – one who is active and vocal in the black community – telling not only us, but some of the greatest comedic minds of our time, that there was something better and more respectable about the way people used to do comedy. He has walked the walk and talked the talk for nearly half a century with his unique brand of humor. His sitcom The Cosby Show spoke to a generation of Americans from across racial and socio-economic divides. He’s not perfect, and he’s suffered immense personal tragedy along the way, but Bill Cosby is someone who actually cares where his culture is headed. 

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A process for taking notes while reading. I don't normally take notes while reading a book but I think it may be worth a try.

Should Teens Be Allowed to Date?

Our family has chosen to not allow our girls to date until they are ready to consider marriage (which won't be for a while yet). Lest you think I am being too prudish, I offer this article from Acculturated for your consideration.

Think about the purpose of dating. It’s not just some fun thing people do. It’s going into dating with that mindset that takes a wrecking ball to the heart. 

No, the most essential purpose of dating is to seek out and get to know a potential spouse. Sure dating also entails emotional and spiritual growth. But a big part of that growth is to prepare you to be a better spouse and parent. Life and nature have this pretty stubborn trajectory, and marriage and family is the direction we hurtle, whether we like it or not. 

So let’s go back to teen dating. Pretty sure there is a broad consensus that teenagers should not get married. With the exception of maybe the Duggar family, people on both sides of the aisle tend to agree that men and women should be emotionally (and heck, physically) mature before they take lifelong vows, especially if those vows are to stand a chance of actually being life-long. Ok maybe the Duggars are a bad example because Josh Duggar (married son) actually seems like more of a man than your average 30 year-old. But I digress.

Heck, call me a bad social conservative, but I don’t even think women should get married until they are in their mid-twenties and have had a little time to experience some independence after college, which yes, I think they should attend. Unmarried. 

The average female body doesn’t even stop growing until around the age of 25. And call me crazy, but it seems un-ideal for a woman to have a baby when her body is still growing and developing. And considering that babies are the natural result of marriage, well – it’s worth thinking about these things.

Yes, it is worth thinking about these things. Unfortunately, many families don't carefully consider the pros and cons of teenage dating before allowing their children to pursue relationships. And it's best to start thinking about it early before your kids are teenagers.

Daily Links 11-6-13

David Suchet bids Poirot "Adieu", John Cleese lectures on creativity, things I will not regret doing with my wife, and much more in today's roundup of links.

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After 25 years portraying Agatha Christie's famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, David Suchet will make his final appearance when Curtain airs in the UK next week. American audiences will have to wait until next year to see the final films. The Telegraph has a wide-ranging interview with Suchet about the role that made him famous that is a must read.

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John Cleese is arguably one of the funniest men in show business. But he also has some great insights into fostering creativity from this lecture from 1991. Take the time to watch this excerpt:




Hat tip: Brain Pickings

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Duck Dynasty has been a huge hit for A&E. It's also not without a little bit of controversy over what's getting edited out of the show. R. J. Moeller argues that Duck Dynasty's values don't need editing.

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I bet you didn't know that it was a little girl who inspired Abraham Lincoln to grow out his beard.

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Tim Challies shares 18 things he won't regret doing with his wife. He also shared 18 things he won't regret doing with his kids. Both are worth reading.

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Trying to decide how many kids to have? Consider reading this first. These are some good things to consider when determining how large a family to have.

Daily Links 11-5-13

A fresh roundup of links for your morning reading. In today's edition, a call to parents to require obedience from their children, defining fecundophobia, and more.

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John Piper has a few things to say about children and obedience:

I am writing this to plead with Christian parents to require obedience of their children. I am moved to write this by watching young children pay no attention to their parents’ requests, with no consequences. Parents tell a child two or three times to sit or stop and come or go, and after the third disobedience, they laughingly bribe the child. This may or may not get the behavior desired. 

Last week, I saw two things that prompted this article. One was the killing of 13-year-old Andy Lopez in Santa Rosa, California, by police who thought he was about to shoot them with an assault rifle. It was a toy gun. What made this relevant was that the police said they told the boy two times to drop the gun. Instead he turned it on them. They fired. 

I do not know the details of that situation or if Andy even heard the commands. So I can’t say for sure he was insubordinate. So my point here is not about young Lopez himself. It’s about a “what if.” What if he heard the police, and simply defied what they said? If that is true, it cost him his life. Such would be the price of disobeying proper authority.

I witnessed such a scenario in the making on a plane last week. I watched a mother preparing her son to be shot. I was sitting behind her and her son, who may have been seven years old. He was playing on his digital tablet. The flight attendant announced that all electronic devices should be turned off for take off. He didn’t turn it off. The mother didn’t require it. As the flight attendant walked by, she said he needed to turn it off and kept moving. He didn’t do it. The mother didn’t require it. 

One last time, the flight attendant stood over them and said that the boy would need to give the device to his mother. He turned it off. When the flight attendant took her seat, the boy turned his device back on, and kept it on through the take off. The mother did nothing. I thought to myself, she is training him to be shot by police.

Hat tip: Challies

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Dispelling the myth "I'm bad at math" is genetic. The bottom line is that you have to work harder but you can get better at it.

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Mollie Hemingway has an insightful piece on fecundophobia - the irrational fear of families with large numbers of children:

There is much more than a whiff of the misogyny in denigrating mothers of multiple children as brainless, in stating that mothers who are homemakers are inferior to those who “earn” their living, or in attacking women for prioritizing fertility above independence. It’s not just that nobody on planet earth could be truly independent — which is to say completely self-reliant or free of any other human support. It’s not just that we each depended on others from the moment of our conception to birth, but all of society is comprised of individuals who work with each other and depend on each other throughout their lives. Or healthy societies are, at least. It may be impolitic to suggest that men and women are in any way different, science be damned, but many women have a particular specialty in cultivating relationships and family. To denigrate women who acknowledge and accept this as a good thing rather than fight against it is not exactly life-affirming.

Hat tip: John Stonestreet

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How to read a lot more than you are now.

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A defense lawyer's reply to the government's motion to not be referred to as "the government". (Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds)

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Revealed: a once-lost art collection valued at approximately $1.5 billion that was thought to have been destroyed in air raids during World War II was discovered behind rotting food in a Munich apartment.

Daily Links 10-29-13

Links of interest rounded up daily. In today's edition, the nanny state strikes again, advice from a father to son, twenty years of leadership, and more.

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Dr. Albert Mohler reflects on twenty years as president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. It hasn't always been an easy road. (Hat tip: Challies)

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Advice from a father to son:

I encourage you, my son, to be a conservative but not in the narrowly political sense. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats embody the fullness of true conservatism, and I have no desire here to give you partisan advice. I want to draw you to something deeper, a way of life that is grounded in essential truths about God, man, and society.

The true conservatism I would steer you toward begins with a foundational truth that is revealed to us in the Bible but which has always struck me as the height of common sense: namely, that we were made in God’s image but are now fallen. The first part is the ground of all human dignity and intrinsic worth. Apart from it, we are nothing more than great apes with no ultimate claim to specialness. The second part is the reality check, the reason why we need laws and limits, checks and balances. 

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Reason #4,378 to homeschool: A school district tells a mother she has to provide a doctor's note in order to pack her child's lunch. No kidding. (Hat tip from my lovely wife, via Free Republic)

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Who was the first African-American major league baseball player? If you answered Jackie Robinson, you would be wrong.

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Neil Gaiman on getting children to read:

The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them. 

I don't think there is such a thing as a bad book for children. Every now and again it becomes fashionable among some adults to point at a subset of children's books, a genre, perhaps, or an author, and to declare them bad books, books that children should be stopped from reading. I've seen it happen over and over; Enid Blyton was declared a bad author, so was RL Stine, so were dozens of others. Comics have been decried as fostering illiteracy.

It's tosh. It's snobbery and it's foolishness. There are no bad authors for children, that children like and want to read and seek out, because every child is different. They can find the stories they need to, and they bring themselves to stories. A hackneyed, worn-out idea isn't hackneyed and worn out to them. This is the first time the child has encountered it. Do not discourage children from reading because you feel they are reading the wrong thing. Fiction you do not like is a route to other books you may prefer. And not everyone has the same taste as you.

Well-meaning adults can easily destroy a child's love of reading: stop them reading what they enjoy, or give them worthy-but-dull books that you like, the 21st-century equivalents of Victorian "improving" literature. You'll wind up with a generation convinced that reading is uncool and worse, unpleasant. We need our children to get onto the reading ladder: anything that they enjoy reading will move them up, rung by rung, into literacy. (Also, do not do what this author did when his 11-year-old daughter was into RL Stine, which is to go and get a copy of Stephen King's Carrie, saying if you liked those you'll love this! Holly read nothing but safe stories of settlers on prairies for the rest of her teenage years, and still glares at me when Stephen King's name is mentioned.).

Read the whole thing.

Hat tip: Book Riot

Advice for Parents

Friday Tweet Recap 8-9-13

Here's a roundup of interesting things that I found on the web and tweeted this week. Quite a boatload of links in today's edition. Be sure to follow me on Twitter for the latest:

A historian makes a case for examining the forgotten presidents.

10 signs you might be a Jane Austen addict. This link should in no way imply that I think any of the women in my household should be classified as addicts.

Two different stories on finding love and both of them are unusual: From Wrong Number to Wedded Bliss and From Hashtags to Holy Matrimony.

For some, college is not worth the debt. More and more, this is something that families have to consider before sending their kids off to school.

"How did you like the sermon?" is the wrong question to ask because sermons are not for liking.

6 Commonly Held Misconceptions about Introverts.

10 reasons parents need a date night (with helpful explanations for the kids).

A fascinating survey of book lovers. Some the stats in this survey are really surprising.

I was sorry to hear this news. I hope they will change their minds.

10 things that "Yahweh" means. I honestly didn't know this.

What strengthens and weakens integrity - it's the small choices that count.

Eric Metaxas argues that cultural elites are the next great unreached people group. He makes a very compelling case.

A controversy has arisen over the word "wrath" in a hymn. Timothy George explains the problem. And Thom Rainer has some insight on what this says about evangelism and the church.

A surprisingly positive New York Times profile of the business practices of Christian companies.

Dispelling 12 common myths about Calvinism.

In honor of the announcement of the 12th doctor, 8 pieces of Doctor Who tea swag.

This is one of the rarest things you will see in baseball: a one pitch strikeout.

Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees received a well-deserved 211 game suspension from Major League Baseball. For those unfamiliar with the story, Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan has an excellent timeline of how this came to pass.

More on Rodriguez: the reason why MLB needs to enforce the rules regarding drug use.

Here's one of the best baseball promos I have ever seen: Vin Scully for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.

It's been 25 years since the first night game at Wrigley Field. Some recollections from those who were there.

Reclaiming excellence as a Christian virtue.

Some wonderful and weird places for bookstores.

Here's a great case of suburban renewal: abandoned Wal-Mart turned into America's largest library.

That's it. Have a great weekend!

From the Archives: Developiing Discernment

The other day my daughters were watching a movie on one of the kids' channels on TV. Based on what they had told me about the movie (which was all that they knew from looking it up online) it sounded like it would be okay. But after it was over and they came to tell us about it, we discovered that there were elements of the story that were not necessarily things we would want them to be exposed to. In fact, if we had known about it ahead of time we probably would have told them not to watch it.

However, I was not angry with them nor did I get angry with them. Instead, I used the opportunity to discuss with them the issue of discernment and being able to determine whether something was appropriate for them based on what was contained in the program. We discussed specific examples of other programs we have told them not to watch and why we found them objectionable.

Our goal is not to police everything they watch or read. Rather, it is to help them to develop discernment and to understand what worldviews are being represented in different programs. Often, we find that material that is theoretically targeted towards kids our age (they are 10 and 9) has content that is really more suitable for older children. We've had to work with them to help them understand that they need to be aware of the messages that are being relayed through media and be able to understand the agenda behind the entertainment.

Developing discernment in my kids has not simply been about telling them what is right or wrong. Nor has it been to say "this is okay" or "this is not okay". Often, we have to go beyond simple right and wrong and explain the reasons why we object to something. By explaining this to them we are helping them to make wiser decisions on their own. That's really the point of training a child in the way they will go: so that they can make wise decisions when they don't have Mom or Dad to make them for them.

This post originally appeared in 2006. 

Time with Dad

I used to think that spending time with my kids meant doing soemthing elaborate or special with them. I’d take each of my daughters on “dates” which were special evenings out that we would go and do something they liked. While thse were good times (and I still occassionally try to have those dates with my duaghters), I was reminded this past week that sometimes that time with my kids doesn’t have to be anything elaborate at all.

Take my oldest daughter, for example. If I’m running errands (such as going to the grocery store) she willl invariably want to tag along not because she finds what I am doing so exciting but because she just wants to hang out with me. In fact, I asked her on one of these recent excursions why she wanted to go with me and she said that she just enjoyed hanging out with Dad. I also have discovered that these are her opportunities to ask tough questions of me. She likes to use these times together to ask me about things that she has been thinking about. It’s in these moments that I get glimpses into what’s going on in her world.

Although my youngest daughter prefers to hang out at home, she will also desire that one-on-one time with me. Like my older daugther, she’ll use the opportunities when we are together to talk to me about difficult things that she may not want to share in front of anyone else.

We have so little time to make an impact on our kids as fathers. By being intentional about simply spending time with them we are allowing for those teachable moments to be created and the door opened to the hearts of our children. For me, spending time with my kids is no longer just about doing something special. It’s about just doing something with them.

Note: This post originally appeared in 2006.

Modesty and Purity

The other day I was in the grocery store with my youngest daughter (who is 9). As we passed by the magazines she asked me a question that totally floored me: "Don't you think people have better things to do than look at each others' body parts?"

With her simple question, she had hit upon one of the things that is so wrong with our society today: we are a sexualized culture that no longer sees modesty (or purity, for that matter) as something to be valued.

I wish I could take credit for a really snappy comeback to her question but I was caught completely off guard and didn't know what to say.

Her question, however, got me thinking onto the subject of modesty.

As a father of two girls, I want my daughters to grow up understanding the importance of dressing modestly. But I also want them to understand that it's about a whole lot more than not showing off their bodies. Modesty is part of living a life in pursuit of purity. Too often we don't frame a discussion about modesty this way. Instead, we define modesty as adhering to a particular style of dress and setting up rules to follow in how we are to appear in public. It's important, however, that our daughers understand that dressing modestly is part of keeping themselves and others pure.

As Joshua Harris says so well in his incredible book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, (Dads - do yourself a favor and read this book with your teenagers) purity is a direction, not a destination. Rather than drawing a line in the sand and say we're not going to cross it but moving as close to the line as possible is not pursuing purity. Pursuing purity demands that we flee from temptation (even those magazines in the store that we shouldn't be looking at). Teaching our kids this lesson can be one of the greatest legacies we can leave as Dads.

Note: This post originally appeared in 2006.