children

My friends talk a lot these days about how to spend more time with others in person. We sincerely wish we could be more present with the people we care about most. And we all acknowledge that our screens get in the way. We want to be personally attentive, but battle the incessant magnetism of our...

I cannot recall how many times I met people who honestly told me that they did not want to have children because children would just interfere with their lives. They viewed children as a burden, rather than a blessing. In fact, a certain woman frankly told me that she was too selfish to have a...

Perhaps there was a time when parents generally over-disciplined. Today too we must believe that “correcting [children] unduly” is a sin against the fifth commandment. [i] But the more common modern problem seems to be insufficient discipline. Couple our cultural moment of permissiveness with the...

Editor's note: this is part 3 of Raising (Covenant) Children Well. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. Enjoy and be challenged. Friends Closer than a Brother The value of baptism depends, first, on a proper understanding of the sacrament; second, the promises contained in baptism must be...

There are two books I have vowed never to write: a book on marriage and a book on raising children well. Most, I am sure, can understand why one might have some trepidation writing on those topics. But, as a Presbyterian pastor, husband, and father of four, I cannot be altogether silent on these...

After revisiting the “trouser color” debate of 2019 (Carl claims a sort of “sartorial panache”), our hosts settle into a more serious discussion. A rather high-profile government appointee publicly displays what is—to most—a rather deplorable lifestyle. Should the Christian say nothing about what...

The podcasting world’s most interesting pair is joined by “the Queen,” as her husband calls her. It’s not Elizabeth II (sorry, Carl!) or the 80s rock band, but Mary Beeke; author, wife of Joel Beeke, mother of three adult children, a former nurse and elementary teacher, and long-time servant of the...

Rosa Young – Committed to Serve At the turn of the twentieth century, many civil rights advocates fought to create better communities and lives for Black Americans. They did it mostly through politics, essays, and discussions. Rosa Young – a name still largely unknown– did it through education, the...

[Originally submitted in December of 2019, but retracted; see footnote number six.] Two weeks ago my wife went to Urgent Care during our morning Sabbath service to get important treatment. When she returned while I was leading our singing of the closing Psalm, she jubilantly waved at me through the...

Matilde Calandrini – Fighting for Education and Religious Freedom In 1831, 37-year old Matilde Calandrini moved from Geneva to Pisa for health reasons. Tuscany, the enchanting Italian region where Pisa was located, had been the home of her ancestors at the time of the Protestant Reformation. They...