Some Discernment about Video Games

Friends of ours who are rearing three daughters asked what video games / platforms I would recommend. That’s a good question. Some parents are completely indiscriminate concerning video games, letting their children play whatever they like. Others fall into the opposite category, keeping their children in the dark about video game platforms.

This made me think back to when Tim was a child. Laurel and I had seen children whose very lives seemed to revolve around video games. That wasn’t something we wanted for our children. But we didn’t want to take an anti-computer-game position. Having an engineer’s heart (if not the degree), I wanted my children to be as comfortable as possible with today’s technology. So we set up some ground-rules that addressed the issue: Continue reading

The Importance of God’s Word…

One of my favorite old-time cartoon characters was Foghorn Leghorn. Do you remember some of his trademark phrases? “Pay attention to me when I’m talkin’ to you boy!” Sometimes I feel like God might want to say that. Like God would like to slap you or me upside the back of the head and say, “Pay attention when I’m talking to you boy!”

I say that because I am not sure there has been a more literate generation in human history who has been less biblically literate than today’s. We know there is a story of Noah and the Ark, but we aren’t sure how it really happened. We have heard of Samson, but we aren’t really sure what he did, other than fall in love with an evil beautician. We know there’s and Old Testament and a New Testament, but we aren’t really sure of how they are different. This high degree of biblical illiteracy comes from our failure to pay attention to what God says. In this message we look at Jesus speaking in his Sermon on the Mount. As you listen, I hope you get a fresh appreciation for the importance of God’s Word.

On Tony Dungy…

I was watching an NFL special on the 1978 Steelers and I heard Hall of Fame Steeler Defensive Back, Mel Blount say this: In my 14 years in training camp I had never seen a player come through who understood the game and knew the game of football like Tony Dungy did.

Having just listened to Tony’s memoirs, Quiet Strength, I would say that in my 20 years of pastoral ministry, I’ve never read a book by a sports celebrity who better understood his role as a Christian.

Buy it. Read or listen to it.