Music of Late

Here are some bands that I’ve been enjoying lately. Click on the links to sample their music on their MySpace pages, then trek over to Amazon and buy their album – they’re starving artists after all.

The Envy Corps (HT: Kendall)
Fleet Foxes
Sera Cahoone

A little handy surfing turned up videos of my two favorite songs from [...]

Fall Classes Firing Up: You Can Learn Too

Fall classes are firing back up again for me starting today. This fall I’m taking two classes from Covenant Seminary as I continue in pursuit of my degree there. Once again, thanks to Covenant Worldwide, all of the lectures for these classes (in audio and text-formats), along with all of the notes are [...]

Arrogance and Evangelism

The uniqueness of Christ is not a peripheral teaching of the Christian faith.  If we lose our sense of absolute dependence on what Jesus did, it will erode away the whole of the faith until little remains.  But equally important to holding to the uniqueness of Christ is not acting arrogant or superior to those [...]

Steeping in James – 1:2-18

This week was spent steeping in James 1:2-18 and primarily the topic of steadfastness. Below are some notes I made by way of reflection and also a couple of application questions. What you see below was what Meg and I used to guide our discussion this week.
This week’s study followed pages 58-77 of [...]

Getting Things Done – Part 5 (Moleskine Miscellanies)

This is the concluding post in my Getting Things Done series. See also Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4. In this part, I’ll be expanding on my Moleskine Setup by writing on a few miscellanies that didn’t make it into the setup post.
Linking Entries
I mentioned before that I use [...]

Getting Things Done – Part 4 (My Moleskine Setup)

This is a continuing post on long, drawn-out Getting Things Done series. See also Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3. Without further ado (see Part 3 if you need the ado), here is how I go about setting up a new Moleskine:
Filling out the “In case of loss, please return to…” [...]

If You Like Commentaries…

…then you’ll love this new website.  It’s called BestCommentaries.com
Enjoy.

Getting Things Done – Part 3

This is a long overdue, continuing post on Getting Things Done. See also Part 1 | Part 2.
Originally, I had planned to present a generic methodology for this part on preparation and planning for “getting things done”. Instead of that route, I have opted to present what I do: detailing my approach using [...]

A Life Long Challenge

Christians need not be the best debaters nor have all the answers–in fact, if we appear to know everything we will surely be viewed with suspicion.  But we must have some of the answers that we can express in terms comprehensible to non-Christians, and plenty of good questions.  We need to make every effort to [...]

Steeping in James – Intro and Background

Welcome to Week 1 of Steeping in James. This week Meg and I focused primarily on gaining an introduction to the Book (Letter) of James as well as background information. We also looked at James 1:1. The following are some things I gathered and made note of in my study and hence [...]

Tolerance vs. Relativism

We live, work, and study next to people of other religions, philosophies, and worldviews in a way that never happened even a hundred years ago.  This change to a religiously more plural society does not make relativism true, but it makes it seem true.
Tolerance is rightly seen as a virtue.  But today what is often [...]

Steeping in James – Our Setup

Meg and I recently began a study together in the Book of James. This study spawned out of our desire to cultivate a consistent time of studying God’s Word together as a married couple (read my post, Non-Cheesy Bible Study Method for Couples for more of the background).
For our study, we are using Douglas [...]

Non-Cheesy Bible Study Method for Couples

For some time now, Meg and I have been struggling to find the right way to implement a joint Bible study between her and I. We’ve tried various methods and various studies, but none have panned out. We usually start out pretty strong and that strength usually lasts about two weeks. Then [...]

No Excuses – Buy Bon Iver Today

Meghan and I have been raving about this album all summer.  Stop reading this post and go buy the album.  Amazon is running a deal TODAY on the MP3 format (I think the deal may only be good for today):
Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago – $2.99.
(HT: Z)

A Preacher’s Notes

I’m fairly interested in this new blog series that Josh Harris is running. Perhaps you’ll want to follow along too.
I’m often asked by other pastors what my notes look like, and I’m always curious to see how other men work. So over the next few weeks we’re going to do a series of posts [...]

Blog Updates

I finally got around to updating my “Nightstand” on the right sidebar. Check it out if you’re interested in my latest reads.  It’s a full fresh list as of tonight.  I always get behind on this but like to keep it up-to-date.
I also have delved myself deeper into the blogosphere by starting a del.icio.us [...]

Barna and the Percentage of U.S. Evangelicals

I came across some interesting statistics yesterday regarding the percentage of evangelical Christians in the U.S. and thought I would share them here. The following is from a recent Barna report. I find these statistics interesting largely due to the fact that I have previously heard the Barna group take some heat for [...]

ESV Study Bible Blog

The folks responsible for the ESV Study Bible (which I’m really excited about) have started a new blog containing posts highlighting some of its features.
Check out the blog here. I’ve also included a video that they put up which helps to show some of the features. The ESVSB comes out in October.
[...]

I Can’t Believe I Went To Bed Early…

I should have stayed up to watch the mens’ 4×100m freestyle relay last night.  Wow.
If you missed it like me, go spend 11 minutes and watch this video.
(HT: Z)

Iris and the Cardinals

This past Wednesday, Iris (my three year old) and I headed down to the Cardinals game downtown.  Iris is getting quite the reputation as lady luck at these games.  Last time, we only stayed for two innings and the Cards scored 7 runs including an inside the park home run.
This time, we made it four [...]

Shane J Wood Website

My good friend Shane recently created a new website (ShaneJWood.com) that will, over time, be loaded with excellent resources.
From the front page:
Welcome to Shane J. Wood online.  This website is dedicated to distributing resources and providing a safe environment for people to seek answers to legitimate questions about Christianity.  My particular area of interest and [...]

Some Things I’m Loving About…Meg

Meg and I have been married now for 6 years.  Here are some of the things that I’m loving about her right now:

She loves to blog (see her handy work here).  We’ve sort of made a new connection through this lately and it has been fun.
She recently suggested that we use a commentary to supplement [...]

Some Things I’m Loving About…Lydia

Lydia turns 8 months old this Thursday and I can’t even believe how fast these months have gone by.  Here are some things I’m loving about my little Louis right now:

She’s just starting to figure out how to wave so she sort of gets the whole arm moving which is cute.
She loves to torment Iris [...]

Some Things I’m Loving About…Iris

This week I’m going to write a short series on things I love about my family.  First up is Iris.
Iris is my three-year old and right now there is nothing better than being three.  Here are some things I’m loving about her right now:

She likes to go to baseball games with me (we’ll be heading [...]