The Toddler’s Catechism

A handful of folks have suggested that we ought to post a list of the catechetical questions we have improvised for Deacon’s initial theological exercises. Finally, we’re complying with this request. And we do so gladly. We also hope that folks might have some suggestions as to how better to order the [...]

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Don’t take this too seriously

I’ve always been obsessed, I think, with having a niche, having an audience—a captive audience. I make myself think that it doesn’t matter if I’m world famous, as long as a particular group of people think I’m pretty darn special. But then, of course, that particular group of people becomes too small, too [...]

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“Just doing my duty, ma’am”: On being a cafeteria vigilante

Today was one of the first days when all kinds of students were on the USC campus, myself included. My favorite place to get food on campus is in the student center cafe, where some usually very nice ladies make you a gigantic and vegetably-diverse salad for 3 and a half bucks. Naturally, [...]

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Two thoughts…

1) Have you ever picked up a banana and begun to peel it, and then realized that you were almost automatically switching hands in order to peel it more “naturally”? This morning I caught myself doing this. I must have just happened to grab the banana with the left hand, and so [...]

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In the Spirit on the Lord’s Day

This morning I preached for the second time this month at Arsenal Hill Presbyterian Church here in Columbia. The church was actually a plant in late mid-nineteenth century out of First Pres, and was for some time called Second Presbyterian. (Sometime later this week, I believe my sermon will be up on their [...]

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Here’s the Difference

I am absolutely astonished by what I am reading in J. I. Packer’s The Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life.
And I think that I’ve figured out what makes the Puritans tick–or at least one thing that makes them tick. It is this. Deeper, more penetrating, more searching, more exposing, [...]

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I think I might love God the Father for the first time

I almost had the slogan favor dei propter christum tatooed on my arm. It means “the favor of God on account of Christ.” I’m sure there’s actually a proper way of understanding that phrase. But I had begun to believe a grave misunderstanding of that slogan.
The truth is, the Lord Jesus didn’t [...]

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Scottish Morbid Introspection?

I’ve been reading, at the recommendation of my minister, the Memoirs of Thomas Boston (or, if you prefer the original title [you've got to love these old, Barnes-and-Noble-unfriendly titles!], Memoirs of the Life, Time, and Writings of the Reverend and Learned Thomas Boston, A.M., Sometime Minister at Simprin, Afterwards at Ettrick, Divided into Twelve Periods, [...]

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