Month: August 2022

It’s a Strange New World indeed, and we’re going to try to understand how it became so strange on Sunday nights, beginning September 18th at 6:30.

I’m not sure how I discovered the writings of Carl Trueman, but you never know where you’ll find a literary gem. I found another one on the ski slopes of Colorado in July.

Marilyn and Linda were exploring the gift shops and Wendell and I were sitting in the shade watching kids ride bikes down the ski trails. An elderly lady in sunglasses was sitting near us, and since I couldn’t make eye contact, I thought I’d just say something. I asked if she was waiting for her grandchildren, and that opened the gate to a delightful conversation.

Before long her grandchildren and their parents joined us, and it didn’t take long for us feel like old friends. When they started to leave she handed me a note and said she too was a Christian, and that she had written a book of poetry that was available on Amazon. I’m really not into poetry, but before she was out of sight I had ordered a copy. I wasn’t sure why, until I got it and started reading.

The book is MY JOURNEY THROUGH IT ALL Hopeful Perseverance. It’s a collection of poems and thoughts that Ann Roberts wrote throughout the course of her life, focusing on how her faith kept her on course.

When I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. It touched me deeply, and before long I started thinking of others who might benefit from poems such as Change in Life that begins:

This life we had was beautiful.
Then one day something came.
That changed our lives forever.
Dementia was its name.

I gave Lucy a copy, and she said she “miraculously” went right to that poem. She now uses it in her daily devotions. I can’t promise it will be miraculous for you, but I do have a couple of copies if you want one.

God Bless, Rick

The Preacher wrote in Ecclesiastes, “Be warned: the writing of books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.” That warning might seem irrelevant in a day of Twitter and sound bites, but some things demand a deeper look, and books fill that role. Only one book is essential, but if we would be salt and light in a dark world we should be willing to put on our thinking caps and risk being wearied a bit.

I’m guessing that’s not the best way to encourage you to join me in a study of a book that Kevin Lasley said would be required reading if he were still teaching in the university. But don’t worry, that’s not what I’m about to do. Instead, I’m going to try to convince you to join me in a shorter more accessible version of that book.

When I read The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self I had to keep a pencil in hand. I don’t think I’ve ever done as much underlining in a book. Calling it “perhaps the most significant analysis and evaluation of Western culture written by a Protestant during the last fifty years” is probably true. The problem I had was understanding the background of everything he was saying, and knowing how to share it. Now that problem’s been solved.

Carl Trueman accepted the challenge to turn a 400 page scholarly book into a book of less than 200 pages that everyone could read and understand. His new book is entitled Strange New World and is subtitled “How thinkers and activists redefined identity and sparked the sexual revolution.”

He introduced the first book by stating, “The origins of this book lie in my curiosity about how and why a particular statement has come to be regarded as coherent and meaningful: ‘I am a woman trapped in a man’s body.’”

How we got there and how we should respond is something we should all be concerned about. Let me know if I should order you a book.

God Bless, Rick