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Cardus Magazine Book Review: The Opposite of Spoiled
Book Review: The Opposite of Spoiled by Ron Lieber. HarperCollins, 2015. 320pp. We all have a voice in our head that talks about money. For some it’s the haunting voice in D.H. Lawrence’s story “The Rocking-Horse Winner”—the voice saying: “There must be more money! There must be more money!” The children hear it when the elaborate and splendid toys came at Christmas while their parents struggled unsuccessfully to maintain their expensive lifestyle. The voice was an inaudible but palpable anxiety about money and always needing more. The title of Lawrence’s story comes from the horse on which their young son, Paul, rocks madly while hearing…
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Labor Pains
At 19, I took a summer job in a canning factory. For nine hours every day, I stood on hard concrete beside a press stamping out thousands of tin can lids. My job was to inspect the seals, stack them in a metal tube, bag them, put 24 bags in a box, and shove the box down a chute. The constant din of the machinery made any conversation with each other impossible. This was long before the Walkman or iPod so we were left alone with our thoughts for hours at a time. During the 15-minute breaks, the talk was about family or sports — the stuff of everyday life.…
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The Reunion and Reform
1. These are the final chapters in the story of Nehemiah and the restoration of Jerusalem after the return from Exile. You’ll remember from the first lesson that Nehemiah heard about the plight of the returned exiles when his brother returned from a trip to Jerusalem. First, he wept, then he prayed and fasted for days before doing anything. He evaluated his capacity (cupbearer to the king) and then waited for four months before doing anything at all except pray. He grew increasingly committed and it became obvious to people around him. After four months he recruited a partner (the king) who had resources. Then, for five years he prepared…
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Ain’t That A Shame
Unfortunately, the overreaction to shame in general has led to our wanting to eliminate it entirely and to celebrate those who are shameless – and that’s a shame.
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Ain't That A Shame
Unfortunately, the overreaction to shame in general has led to our wanting to eliminate it entirely and to celebrate those who are shameless – and that’s a shame.
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Nehemiah’s Turnaround
I met with a ministry this week whose situation reminded me so much of Nehemiah’s challenge. He was having to rebuild an organization from the ground up with resistance from both the inside and outside. It was wearing him down. He was dependent on a single donor. His board had very little sense of responsibility. His people were fearful and comfortable with the situation. The previous leadership had created a culture of entitlement and low standards. In Chapter 1 and 2 of the book we read the story and the response of Nehemiah to the situation in Jerusalem. When he heard the news about the state of Jerusalem and those…
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The Second Coming
Our leaders and cultural elite have no capacity for understanding — or taking seriously — the theology and actions of militant Islam.
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Joseph’s Bones
In the last several weeks we have been in the life of Jacob. He has stolen a blessing, duped his father-in-law, run from his brother, wrestled with an angel, been crippled, lost his favorite child and , last week, moved to Egypt so his family and tribe could survive. This week Jacob is dying. Dying was different then. It was talked about differently. People talked about being “gathered to my fathers” which meant even in death you were a part of a larger family and you were taught your whole life that even in death you had certain responsibilities toward the family that remained – especially if you were the…
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The Rhythm of Routine
We distort Jacob’s life when we try to make it more than it was —a day-to-day unremarkable pattern of the ordinary.
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Jacob in Egypt
If you could divide your adult life into four stages how would you do that? Marriage, first job, kids, retirement? There are probably any number of ways we mark transitions and it was the same in Jacob’s life except a little more dramatic. His life is marked by four encounters with God at different times in his life. But, they share one thing in common. They all come at a time when he is running from someone or about to be on the move. God never says to him, “Stay where you are and keep doing what you are doing.” The first time in Chapter 28 he is on…
