Marching Forth!

Yesterday marked the first day of baseball season for the Grisez boys, and it was nostalgic for me to be back on the field as a third base coach.  Both boys had two hits and scored a run, so it was a great boost to their confidence.  One thing that is different about playing baseball in Australia is the absence of the Pledge of Allegiance and the Little League Pledge.  Near the scoreboard of Little League fields all over America, the American flag flies.  After stating the Pledge of Allegiance, the players recite:  "I trust in God, I love my country, and will respect its laws.  I will play fair, and strive to win, but win or lose, I will always do my best."  Play ball! I am happy to say the Pledge is still around, even after all these years - just like God!  For me, saying that pledge is still a statement of fact.  I do trust in God, I do love my country (currently Australia).  I will play fair and do my best to win.  When two tea...

Blogs are interesting animals.  I suppose the motivation for regularly maintaining blogs are endless.  For some it might be strictly cathartic, for others it might be the opportunity for self-revelation.  Though an avid reader, I spend virtually no time reading blogs.  Some are chronological family reports, while others are dedicated to political rant.  I have the feeling that some blogs scream, "Look at me!" in a frantic attempt for significance in the vast yet cluttered cyberspace. I am convinced people write blogs so people will read them.  I write because I believe it is what God wants me to do.  With the amount of writing I do in study and sermon preparation, it seems unnecessary for me to write more.  This blog is a medium which allows me to share the truth He teaches me with others who care to hear it.  Today this blog has notched over 10,000 page views from all over the world, and to me that is a significant milestone.  Tack on...

I am about halfway through reading the memoirs of A.E. Wilder-Smith called Fulfilled Journey .  He concisely describes his observations as to the cause of the "disintegration" of the modern education system.  A couple of sentences stood out to me:  " School is too often no more than a means for the manipulation of opinions and the leveling of society for ideological reasons.  It is no longer for training in independent thought and the formation of one's own opinions based on facts and data.  In such a school system the development of an independent personality is neither possible nor desired ." ( Fulfilled Journey , Wilder-Smith, pg. 202)  I heartily endorse and agree with this observation as being true to my experience.  In my university days it seemed the focus was more on freedom of speech and expression rather than freedom of thought. I appreciate A.E. Wilder-Smith's perspective because he is a scholar, scientist, an intellectual, and also a Chri...

Love is the ultimate pop-culture icon.  The word and associated baggage are tramped around on a global stage, saturating music, movies, and all media.  In the English language, "love" is a word so generic that the meaning has been diluted and virtually lost.  "Love" has been reduced to the vague description of a feeling or a sexual act, a complete abandonment of the biblical description.  Forget God, sing musicians:  love is all you need.  But what is love without God?  What is our basis of love?  Is it really nothing more than a casual excitement of glands?  How does the world's idea of love differ from God's? The Yardbirds sang long ago, " For your love I would give the stars above...For your love I would give you all I could ."  It is hard for us to detach love from sex, something which stunts our concept of love greatly.  On one hand the Yardbirds were vying for physical intimacy, while at the same time petitioning for the af...