Author: Tim

• G.K. Chesterton on the Kingdom

  …in everything that matters, the inside is much larger than the outside. – Autobiography, Chapter II

• David Allen on a clear mind

  There is no reason to have the same thought twice, unless you like having that thought. (Getting Things Done, 22)

• Glossary: parenting

  Reminders for evangelical parents about their religious words:   The “World”:  is where God is not.  It is not defined by dancing,  drinking,  playing cards,  TV, etc.   Commerce, entertainment, all life activities carried on in God’s absence are worldly.   “Jesus”:  His function is not to help you with your authority.   If you have to…

• Masculinity

  Boys and Girls  are different. The governing characteristic of maculinity is strength, just as the governing characterisitc of femininity is beauty. This is why boys play at strength, and girls play at beauty. Boys play to understand and use strength. This is why they climb, jump, break things, blow things up. Thet enjoy loud machines…

• Adult Children: Forgive Your Parents

  A Word to Adult Children Most adults have layers and layers of subconscious anger resulting from being loved insufficiently as a child. Anger’s function is justice.  It is a reflex to perceived injustice.  All people know intuitively they should be loved.   Almost all people internalize, as infants and children, the anger of the injustice of…

• Modesty of Speech

  On Sex Talk and the Immodesty Of Our Age  [ONLY AN OUTLINE RIGHT NOW]   Children from evangelical homes are still getting the impression their parents think sex-talk is dirty. Then, they find out sex is fun, and they throw off everything their parents told them, because their parents taught them a taboo, instead of…

• Do Not Coerce the Heart

  The pre-school child will tell you what God is doing in his heart.  He will openly talk about his moral thoughts.   He will naturally think about God, death,  and the afterlife.   He will keep telling you – forever – if you respond correctly when he does. Listen for the heart-work that God is doing, and…

• The Point Of It All Is Friendship

  You might read all this talk of law, discipline, reaping and sowing, and think that the ideal Christian home is some sort of concentration camp.     Quite the opposite, since the point of it all is warm friendship between parents and children.    There is a danger not only that all this talk of…

• Inside-out Versus Outside-in

  God’s job and the parent’s job are different: same goal but opposite processes:   God: inside-out Only God has direct access to the heart, the parents do not.  It is not the earthly father’s job to make his son feel guilt over sin or to sanctify him or to directly effect any spiritual state in…

• Word-environment

  The parents must be immersed in God’s word enough that their spontaneous conversation is about it.  How much?  So much that the conversation of the parents will be more dominant and more attractive than what is on television and in the movies and on the computer.  The Kingdom of God is more beautiful than the…