Deus Misereatur

  As a dad of daughters and sons, I've always looked for resources to read with them and help bring about discussions. As they got older we went this way, and then that to try and achieve some aspect of "covering all our bases," as the saying goes. Even though my children have all moved on into adulthood, I still look for resources for other parents. So I was interested in "Call to Action: Become the Man God Designed You to Be." This wee 128-page manual looked to be something I would have used when the kids still lived at home. Alun Ebenezer, CEO and Executive Headmaster of Fulham Boys School in London, England, has given parents and youth ministers a little handbook they might just find useful. The working assumption in the book is, if "you get the men, you get the home, the church, and the culture" (viii), and that seems right to me. This small compendium includes 30 short chapters that cover a number of aspects fathers, mothers, and pastors would li...

From my interactions with Protestant parishioners over the years, it seems to me that there is this high brick wall between the present and the past. Most are fairly in-tune with recent history (sort of), barely in-tune with Reformation history up to the near present, and utterly out-of-tune with anything before 31 October 1517. That's where the high brick wall looms, with no perceptible way to climb it and gaze on the other side. But recently Christian Focus has happily published a handy, 152-page paperback, "Reclaiming the Dark Ages: How the Gospel Light Shone from 500 to 1500." The authors, Iain Wright, pastor of Covenant OPC, and Yannick Imbert, who holds the William Edgar Chair of Apologetics at Faculté Jean Calvin, Aix–en–Provence, southern France, and serves on the theological committee of the National Council of French Evangelicals, have sought to give Protestant Christians a boost so they can gaze over the wall, and a nice boost it is. Wright and Imbert don't...

  I am a grandpa, and the classic grandpa type, even down to the white beard and thinning hair. So, one of the things this means is that I'm usually on the lookout for kids books that I would like to read to my grandkids. "Arlo and the Keep-Out Club" is one. Betsy Childs Howard, author of several kids books, has given young children, parents, grandparents, church nursery teams, and others a delightful little story in this 40-page hardback. And Samara Hardy, freelance illustrator and designer, has given readers - younger and older - visually pleasant, colorful, attention-keeping pictures. The storyline runs through Arlo's desires - to be part of the "Keep-Out Club," and the hard decisions he has to make during initiation. That's the tale in a nutshell. It's easy to follow. But also to put yourself in his place is effortless. Most of us will remember walking through similar feelings and challenges on the playground when we were Arlo's age.  And in ...