Monthly Archives: April 2010

Book Review: “You Can Change” by Tim Chester

Chester, Tim. You Can Change: God’s Transforming Power for Our Sinful Behavior and Negative Emotions. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010. 192 pp. $15.99.

You can change. You can change. You can change.

It’s a message so simple and promising, bandied about in various forms by psychologists, counselors, TV hosts, politicians, and authors (yes, even those espousing to be followers of Christ). Yet, for all its simplicity, the majority of discussion, advices, and words written on the subject are nothing but emptiness. One can understand, then, why a reader might be skeptical about opening a book with this particular title. Such was the case when I bought and opened You Can Change: God’s Transforming Power for Our Sinful Behavior and Negative Emotions by Tim Chester.

That skepticism, as it relates to this book, is completely unfounded.

You Can Change is, I think, the best book I have read in years, and maybe the best book I’ve ever read regarding sanctification (or, as Chester helpfully defines it, tranformation). This short review is intended to let you know what to expect should you, hopefully, pick it up your yourself. Continue reading →

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Having my hands full: Godly fatherhood in an ungodly age

You can see it in their eyes. In the checkout line. In the restaurant. In the park. They’re looking at you wondering if you’ve really got everything under control.

You hear it in their comments. Not intentionally insulting. Not intentionally condescending. They’re think they’re being nice when they laughingly tell you it looks like you have your hands full.

No one is quite sure you can handle it. After all, you’ve got three children with you. One is six, one is two, the third will be one next week. I mean, “Can you really handle it?” Kids are crazy, they think! But worst of all? You’re a man!

I’m a daddy – a father of five. Three of them are around me all the time. One went to be with the Lord while still in the womb. The fifth will arrive in about two months. Therefore, by this point in my life I am, regrettably, well acquainted with the attitude our culture takes toward fathers. Continue reading →

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Fred Phelps, funerals, and free speech

Just how much free speech can we take? That is a question one has to ask himself when confronted with the words and actions of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KS. I hesitate to even dignify this particular organization with the word “church,” though, because as you may be aware Phelps and Westboro, a “church” that consists mainly of his family members, have made their name notorious in the United States for their protests and protest tactics.

Perhaps best known for their “God hates fags” campaign, in which they have posted signs and billboards with demeaning messages toward homosexuals and anyone they perceive does not hate homosexuals, they have become infamous in recent years for their systematic protest of funerals for military personnel who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For example, in 2006 they protested the Westminster, MD, funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who died serving our nation in Iraq. They held up signs that read, “God Hates the USA,” “Thank God For Dead Soldiers,” and “Semper Fi Fags,” to demonstrate their belief that military deaths are God’s judgment on the country for its acceptance of homosexuality. Continue reading →

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Privett in ’12: What America needs

With the passage of the health care bill now in the rear view mirror and with (so far) no inspiring conservative candidates on the horizon (2008 retreads don’t inspire me), I figure it is time to resurrect my long dormant campaign for President of the United States in 2012.

A little history first. I first announced my plans to run for President in 2012 back in 1999. In fact, it contributed to me meeting my wife, so regardless of what happens I have won! Nevertheless, I will be eligible for the presidency in a couple of years and so it’s time to get to campaigning. Therefore, my fellow Americans, I present to you my fake-real platform. I do not pretend that in four or even eight years the country can completely be turned around, but what follows are, in the spirit of Woodrow Wilson, under whose presidency the federal government’s power dramatically increased (to its detriment), my Fourteen Points for turning the tide toward once again guaranteeing  life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, for all in America. Continue reading →

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In death believers attain true life

This morning I had the honor and privilege of co-officiating the funeral of Howard Rowlett. Howard died on Saturday at the age of 95. He was a deacon in my church and leaves behind a daughter, son, and a sister. What follows are remarks I made during the opening portion of the service, along with some things I said by the grave site later on. I include them here for your reflection and, I hope, edification. God has been glorified in the life and death of my brother Howard, and I pray that perhaps by publishing this He will continue to receive glory. Continue reading →

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