joel's thoughts

If you’ve been wondering what’s been happening with Vedat, the Serbian boy we brought over for surgery on his back, check here for the latest. God is faithful, and there is no doubt in my mind he has plans for this boy!

On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Diana Butler Bass takes a look at where the politics of abortion stand today (hint: not very far from where they stood thirty years ago), why the church bears some responsibility for that, and what in her view needs to change. A thought-provoking, challenging piece, and well worth […]

Just came across an interesting article over at Linux for Christians about the potential place for Linux and open source software in general for churches. Worth a read, especially if you’re in a new/growing church or have anything to do with your church’s tech policy.

Just read Dr. Bob’s post on faith and emotional pain. That description doesn’t even do it justice, but I can’t think properly right now in part because I’m still digesting his well-written insight and in part because I’m late leaving and really need to be getting home. But go read it for yourself, and don’t […]

[Background] Two weeks ago, my family and I made a visit to our local Family Christian Store. I was there primarily to pick up the Casting Crowns CD [Snapshot review: tracks 2-4 are absolutely fabulous, the rest ranges from ‘good-thoughts’ to ‘eh’; overall musically solid but unremarkable, the strength is in the lyrics; really, tracks […]

Craig offers a link to a Christian doctor’s thoughts on end-of-life decisions, and I thought it was simply too good not to share it here. Very insightful and clarifying. Enjoy.

Interesting article over at Newsweek on the history of the resurrection of Jesus, and the theology of the early church. It’s a fairly even-to-positive portrayal of the subject matter, and makes for worthwhile reading. Thanks to chambrook for the tip.

Our oldest daughter is now about three and a half, and one of the things we’re trying to work on at this point is whining. She has a pretty strong dramatic streak, and tends to play up any injury, physical or emotional, real or imagined. She is, after all, 3. But we’re trying to teach […]

Came across this article on different types of worship in today’s church, and something about it bothers me. Not that I disagree with much of the article — he’s just describing and categorizing the various styles of worship found in various churches. Granted, there was a bit of editorializing mixed in that I didn’t always […]