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The Christianity Today 2008 Book Awards are in. Here are the top books arranged by category.

• Apologetics/Evangelism – There Is A God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind; Antony Flew with Roy Abraham Varghese (HarperOne)
• Biblical Studies – The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition; Paul Rhodes Eddy and Gregory A. Boyd (Baker Academic)
• Christianity and Culture – Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite; D. Michael Lindsay (Oxford)
• Christian Living – Caring for Mother: A Daughter’s Long Goodbye; Virginia Stem Owens (Westminster John Knox)
• The Church/ Pastoral Leadership – The Call to Joy and Pain: Embracing Suffering in Your Ministry; Ajith Fernando (Crossway)
• Fiction – Quaker Summer; Lisa Samson (Thomas Nelson)
• History/Biography – A Secular Age; Charles Taylor (Belknap)
• Missions/Global Affairs – Disciples of All Nations: Pillars of World Christianity; Lamin O. Sanneh (Oxford)
• Spirituality – The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways That Jesus Is the Way; Eugene H. Peterson (Eerdmans)
• Theology/Ethics – Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music; Jeremy S. Begbie (Baker Academic)

Awards of Merit

• Apologetics/Evangelism – Questions to All Your Answers: A Journey from Folk Religion to Examined Faith; Roger E. Olson (Zondervan)
• Biblical Studies – Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament; G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (Baker Academic)
• Christianity and Culture – Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy; Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L Weaverzercher (Jossey-Bass)
• Christian Living (tie) –
  • Ain’t Too Proud to Beg: Living Through the Lord’s Prayer; Telford Work (Eerdmans)
  • Gracism: The Art of Inclusion; David A. Anderson (Intervarsity)
• The Church/Pastoral Leadership – The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God’s Call to Justice; Mark Labberton (Intervarsity)
• Fiction – Home to Holly Springs; Jan Karon (Viking)
• History/Biography – The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America; Thomas S. Kidd (Yale)
• Missions/Global Affairs – Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think About and Discuss Theology; Timothy C. Tennent (Zondervan)
• Spirituality – Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit’s Power; J. P. Moreland (Zondervan)
• Theology/Ethics – Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief; Rodney Stark (HarperOne)

Did you have a favorite Christian book that you read this past year? Tell us about it in the comments section.

HT: Between Two Worlds

Related posts:

• The Christianity Today 2009 Book Awards
• The Christianity Today 2008 Book Awards
• The Christianity Today 2007 Book Awards

Do pastors prepare their own sermons? I believe that most do, but looking at my stats from last week gave me pause.

I received over a thousand hits last week from people searching for such things as “Palm Sunday sermon,” “sermon for Palm Sunday,” “sermon about the donkey,” etc. The hits started coming first thing Monday morning and continued throughout the week. The greatest number of hits actually came on Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday. The hits continued late into Saturday night, and I even got a hit from someone searching with this phrase: “If I had to preach a sermon on Palm Sunday tomorrow, which Scripture would I use?”

Now I am sure many of these people were looking for devotional material to read or perhaps for illustrations or supplementary material for their own sermons. I often read other people’s sermons for personal benefit or to help in my own sermon preparation. But the pattern of searching would suggest that there are some people scooping the internet for sermons to preach the next day rather than actually preparing a message during the week.

Some of these hits came from foreign lands where perhaps not all pastors have the same benefit of training and financial support that many pastors enjoy here in the United States. But most of the hits came from cities right here in the U.S. It just makes you wonder.

Click here for related post: So When Do You Start Preparing for Sunday?

James Howell, senior minister at Myers Park UMC in Charlotte, responds to Bart Erhman’s new book, God’s Problem (subtitled: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question — Why We Suffer).

I was shocked by this book, but not because Ehrman rejects God. Ehrman is a very fine scholar, and a task incumbent upon a scholar is to engage the best scholarship written on a subject. Christians have known for 2,000 years that suffering happens, and theologians have grappled with many wise, meaningful approaches to how we believe in a good God in a world where bad things happen. Ehrman seems not to have made himself aware of any of them, or he ridiculously misrepresents various ways we understand the intersection of God and suffering. None of the great theologians who have deftly explored these matters is ever mentioned.

HT: Ben Witherington

Yesterday’s message in the The Road to Jerusalem series was called The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, taken from Luke 19:28-40. The main idea of the message was that the triumphal entry is all about Jesus as the Messiah. Here is the outline of the message:

I. Jesus presents himself as Messiah (verses 28-34)
    A. The Mount of Olives
    B. The tethered colt
    C. The name “Lord”

II. The people proclaim Jesus as Messiah (verses 35-38)
    A. The entry on the donkey
    B. The spreading of the cloaks
    C. The praises of the people

III. Jesus accepts their praise of him as Messiah (39-40)
    A. The objection of the Pharisees
    B. Jesus’ affirmation of the people’s praise

Application:
    1) Believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
    2) Serve him as King.
    3) Proclaim his praises.

Click on the Sermons tab at the top of the blog for this and other messages.

Nicole at 168 Hours ran a nice series on hospitality last month. You can find a roundup of the links to her series here: Hospitality Posts

Abraham Piper shares 22 words about believing you’re right. “Everyone always thinks they’re right. The moment we discover we’re wrong, we’ve already changed our mind, and we think we’re right again.”

Tony Kummer at Ministry-to-Children.com provides a great Children’s Easter Crafts Resource Page. “Easter is a Christian holiday that almost demands special treatment in your children’s church and Sunday school. Here are some craft ideas online that can help you get started.”

Maeve at Daily Writing Tips examines the roots of the words Good Friday and Easter. “Among the many meanings of ‘good’ are virtuous, moral, and wise. One of the meanings of the word holy is ‘infinitely good.’ From such meanings come the expressions ‘the Good Book’ and ‘Good Friday.'”

Justin Childers at CROSS-eyed quotes Bryan Chapell on the Christ-focus of every passage of Scripture: “In its context, every passage possesses one or more of four redemptive foci. The text may be:
    1) predictive of the work of Christ,
    2) preparatory for the work of Christ,
    3) reflective of the work of Christ, and/or
    4) resultant of the work of Christ.”
(Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching, p. 282)

Bob Krumm raises four questions that must be answered before taking actions to negate global warming and its effects:

1. Is the climate warming outside of the range of normal variation?
2. If so, is the climate change due to man’s influence?
3. Is the net effect of the climate change more negative than positive?
4. Is there a reasonable expectation that the recommended changes will reverse the negative effects without introducing more negative effects?

“We need a ‘yes’ answer to all four questions before taking any actions or we risk either wasting money or making the situation worse.”

Stephen Altrogge asks the question: Does God care about Exercise?

“Nowhere in the Bible will you find a scripture that says, ‘You must exercise three times a week ( and make sure one of those days is a good cardio work out).’ But we do read in 1 Corinthians 10:31, ‘So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.’ Every minute of our lives is to be lived for the glory of God, and exercise is a wonderful means of helping us live for the glory of God. How? By extending our years of service to God, and by making us more effective in serving the Lord.” (HT: Semper Reformanda)

Steven D. Greydanus offers up a fun rhyming review of the new Dr. Seuss movie: Horton Hears a Who.

But the last time Who-ville came to the screen
Seuss-ian magic was not to be seen.
Jim Carrey’s Grinch was nothing to relish
And Mike Myer’s Hat Cat was no more Geisel-ish.

Could La-La Land ever give Horton his due?
A pro-life pachyderm who’s trusty and true?
And with Jim Carrey back! As Horton’s own voice!
The Grinch! Could there be a peculiarer choice?

But… what’s this? From Blue Sky? Creators of Manny
The Mammoth, Ice Age’s pachyderm nanny?
The makers of Robots? Could they get it right?
Could they pull off Horton? You know, they just might…

And they have! Their Horton’s playful and kind
Responsible, long-suffering, stout in a bind.
And, as if atoning, even Jim Carrey…
He’s not at all grinchy! He’s Horton-y! Very!

Meet Danny D. – our crazy cocker spaniel. Danny D. has been a part of our household since he was a puppy. I brought him home as a surprise for my wife while I was away at a Doctor of Ministry residency. He is a high-spirited, energetic, goofy, affectionate furball of fun. When I picked him out of the litter back in 2002, his tail was wagging faster than a jackhammer, and he wouldn’t stop licking my hand. Six years later his tail is still wagging, and he hasn’t stopped licking. We sometimes call him “the tongue with fur.”

On Tuesday Danny escaped from our backyard. Old man winter had worn down one of the pickets in the fence. Danny found the opening and made good his escape. He was not wearing his collar, and so he had no identification. He has escaped a couple times before but always came back. This time, however, the afternoon wore on, and he did not return. We walked the neighborhood for hours calling his name to no avail. Night came, and Danny had still not returned. We have three boys in the house who love Danny D. to pieces. Needless to say, we all went to bed very sad and concerned.

There were only three reasons we could think Danny hadn’t returned. Either he was lost and couldn’t find his way back, he was hurt and couldn’t come back, or someone had picked him up. I called animal control in the morning as soon as they opened. They had not received any reports of a missing dog. Thankfully, they also had no reports of a dog being hit by a car overnight.

I took the morning off from work and made up 250 “Have you seen our dog?” flyers. I walked around the surrounding neighborhoods and left a flyer in every door. It was cold, wet and raining. Meanwhile, my wife posted a flyer at the local Stop ‘N Shop. I came home for lunch and then headed back to work. Still no word on Danny D.

About 3:00 in the afternoon I finally got a call. The woman on the other end said she had our dog and that he was safe. I asked her where he was, and she said, “Chicopee.” I was flabbergasted. Chicopee is twelve miles away from our home. It is on the other side of the Connecticut River and on the other side of Route I-91, a major highway. How in the world could Danny be in Chicopee?

She explained that she and her friend saw Danny running around a main road and stopped, concerned that he might get hit. They called him over, “Here boy!” and Danny, ever the friendly dog, came bounding over and jumped right into their car. They looked for identification but couldn’t find any.

As it turns out, Danny was not even a thousand feet from our doorstep, but they had no way of knowing whether he was close to home or wandering far away. Rather than put him back out on the street, they very kindly brought him home to Chicopee and took care of him for the night. The next day they checked the bulletin board at the local Stop ‘N Shop to see if someone had left any information. Sure enough, they saw our flyer there and called me on my cell.

I immediately drove to Chicopee to pick up Danny D. I thanked them so much for taking care of Danny and also for contacting us. A dishonest person might have kept the dog for themselves. She explained that she had just lost a dog of fifteen years the month before, and she couldn’t imagine not getting the dog back to his rightful owner.

Danny D. and I hopped into the van and drove back home where we had a joyful reunion with the rest of the family. In the meantime, I patched up the hole in the fence and put his collar back on. One adventure at a time is plenty for me – and hopefully for Danny D. as well!

Click here for the follow-up post: Parable of the Prodigal Puppy

Look out Google Sky. Here comes The WorldWide Telescope. Here is the description from the WorldWide Telescope home page:

The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a rich visualization environment that functions as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best ground and space telescopes in the world for a seamless, guided exploration of the universe.

WorldWide Telescope, created with Microsoft’s high-performance Visual Experience Engine™, enables seamless panning and zooming across the night sky blending terabytes of images, data, and stories from multiple sources over the Internet into a media-rich, immersive experience.

And here is the reaction from Dr. Roy Gould of the Harvard Center for Astrophysics:

“The WorldWide Telescope takes the best images from the greatest telescopes on Earth … and in space … and assembles them into a seamless, holistic view of the universe. This new resource will change the way we do astronomy … the way we teach astronomy … and, most importantly, I think it’s going to change the way we see ourselves in the universe.”

The WorldWide Telescope will be available free of charge to anyone with a computer in spring of 2008. Coming soon to a computer screen near you!

Related posts:

• The Size of the Earth Compared to Other Objects in Space
• Our Place in God’s Creation
• 2007 Astronomy Pictures of the Year
• Google Earth Looks to the Sky
• Wikisky – Fun with Stars

Last month I blogged about my memories of the Great Blizzard of 1978. So I thought it would be fun to make a list of the various severe weather and seismic events that I have personally experienced. I have been through blizzards, earthquakes, hurricanes and tropical storms, but no tornados (yet?). Here are the five main events I have experienced so far in my life.

• Blizzard of 1969 (February 22-28, 1969) — This one has also been called “the 100-hour storm.” I was only 6 years old at the time, so I don’t remember much about it. I was living in Wenham, Massachusetts. I remember it seemed to snow forever, and the snow was piled up sooooo high on either side of the driveway. The history books say it was about 32 inches of snow.
• Blizzard of 1978 (February 5-8, 1978) — I was 15 years old, still living in Wenham. This blizzard dropped 55 inches of snow in our area over a period of three days. No cars were allowed on the roads for a whole week. And of course that meant no school for a week either!
• Whittier Narrows Earthquake (October 1, 1987) — I was living in Burbank, California serving as youth pastor by day and working as a recording engineer by night. (And attending seminary somewhere in between!) On the day of the earthquake I had been working in the studio all night and was trying to finish off a mix when the quake suddenly hit at 7:42 a.m. It felt like a train came barreling right through the middle of the studio. The quake was only 5.9 magnitude on the Richter scale, but it was one of the most terrifying things I ever experienced. Years later I would still jump if a heavy truck drove by causing the house to shake for just a second.
• The Perfect Storm (October 27 – November 1, 1991) — Yes, this is the storm that was featured in the book and movie by the same name. We were living in Beverly, MA at the time. My wife, Rose, had just given birth to our first child the month before. To be honest, I don’t remember much about the storm. I think we were too distracted with a newborn in the house. I remember walking around the neighborhood afterwards and noticing some large trees uprooted, but that was about it. Years later I would read the book, The Perfect Storm, without realizing at first that I had actually been in it!
• Hurricane Andrew (August 24, 1992) — This was the big one. We had recently moved to Homestead, Florida, the town where my wife grew up. Our firstborn son was now eleven months old. The storm hit early on a Monday morning, the day I was scheduled to begin teaching Bible at a Christian School. Andrew ranked right up there with the earthquake on the terrifying scale. After the storm passed, it took us three days just to chainsaw our way out of the driveway. It was one month before classes began at the school, and two months before we got our electricity back. You can read my wife’s account of the storm here.

How about you? Do you have any severe weather or earthquake stories to share?

Related posts:

• Blizzard of 1978 – 30 Year Anniversary
• Remembering Hurricane Andrew
• 10 Worst Disasters of the Century

Discerning Reader now has a new page where they will list upcoming Christian book release dates. This looks like a great resource for Christian book lovers to see what’s up around the corner in the Christian publishing world. Here is the link: Christian Book Release Dates

Justin Taylor shares about Martin Luther and his marriage in the article: Love and Marriage: Luther Style. Read about Luther’s earlier bachelor life and how he helped his future wife, Katie, escape from a convent in a fish barrel. Find out 20-year-old Katie’s response when Luther tried to set her up with a 60-year-old teacher. Learn about the shortest engagement on record: proposed to and married on the same day! (June 13, 1523) Consider the following four lessons Justin shares drawn from the Luthers’ legacy of love and marriage:

1. Martin and Katie didn’t put their hope in marriage; they put their hope in God.
2. Martin and Katie didn’t marry each other because they were infatuated with each other; instead they grew to love each other because they were married.
3. Martin and Katie viewed marriage as a school for growing in godliness.
4. Martin and Katie enjoyed the God-given gifts of life and marriage unto the glory of God.

It’s a fun article. Be sure to read the whole thing.

Ben Witherington has posted a response to Early Doherty’s book, The Jesus Puzzle: Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus. Darrell Bock also worked through a lengthy set of responses last fall.

• Click here for Ben Witherington’s response.
• Click here for a round-up of links to Darrell Bock’s responses.

Check out the new behind the scenes video for the upcoming movie: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Behind the Scenes: “Prince Caspian: Return to Narnia”
(Video length: 2:46)

Countdown to Caspian:

Click here for more Narnia and Caspian related posts.
Click here for Narnia sermon series.

HT: NarniaWeb