Little Missionary

I came across this missionary influenced by Tenth's youth program (preMaranatha). Click Marie Little. Here is an excerpt: "Marie's conversion during her teens, brought about through contacts with a Methodist church school teacher, caused a major change in her behavior and also affected her mother and brother. She subsequently became even more deeply involved in the youth program of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, which included evangelistic team activity. As a singer, she also participated, with her brother, in a Salvation Army instrumental street group and attended jail meetings held by the Army. "

A Lamp Unto...

I came across this interesting image of the church and a lamp. Click here.

Of Books

reformation21 is asking what 10 books to recommend to every pastor. Click here to see Phil's list. He even names his favorite book next to the Bible. Click "Comments" and give me two books you recommend just because they are fun to read.

I or Me?

Grammar Lesson #2

You may lay your work on the desk and even lie down on the couch while contemplating this second grammar lesson. Today we consider the proper use of personal pronouns. Remember these two terms: subjective and objective. A subjective pronoun does something. An objective pronoun has something done to it.

Thus,
I (subjective) hit the ball.
The ball hits me (objective).

This is easy enough, but we tend to trip up when we add another pronoun or use prepositions. For example, someone knows to say, "I like to play ping pong." That same person, however, might also say, "Her and I like to play ping pong." You, of course, know the answer is "she." If you get confused, simply try the sentence with one pronoun, and you most likely will know what to do.

What about prepositions (of, to, on, about, for...)? Treat them like verbs that do something to the pronoun.

Incorrect usage:
I hit the ball to Bob and she.
You have done so much for Willy and he.
I've asked Tom, on behalf of Sally and I, to say a few words.

Correct usage:
I hit the ball to Bob and her.
You have done so much for Willy and him.
I've asked Tom, on behalf of Sally and me, to say a few words.

Hopefully, this will be of help to they who want to improve themselves. Let Linda Boice know I am doing my duty. She and me tried to teach our students correctly. Occasionally, a sharp student might correct she and me in class, but not often. And if you are a sharp student, you will have already noted the three mistakes in this paragraph.

Giants in Columbia

Ligon Duncan reports in the reformation21 blogsite that First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC is voting this coming Sunday on calling Sinclair Ferguson to be Senior Pastor. The University of South Carolina recruited Steve Spurrier to be its football coach, and now First Presbyterian appears to be getting Sinclair Ferguson. What's going on down there in Columbia? I attended the university from '73-'76 and grew up in a small town (Kingstree) an hour and half away.

Morning Message

"If you believe, you will see the glory of God."

This hit me between the eyes the other morning when feeling a bit down about the difficulties of life (see John 11:40).

Lewis and Chesterton

I am away from the church this week on vacation; thus no church news. (The postings related to the hurricane and relief efforts are actually from David Apple.) Here are selections from the books I've been reading this week.

From C. S. Lewis' Prince Caspian:
"Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger."
"That is because you are older, little one," answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."

From G. K. Chesterton's The Everlasting Man:
Art is the signature of man.... When all is said, the man fact that the record of the reindeer men attests, along with all other records, is that the reindeer man could draw and the reindeer could not.... Monkeys did not begin pictures and men finish them; Pithecanthropus did not draw a reindeer badly and Homo Sapiens draw it well. The higher animals did not draw better and better portraits; the dog did not paint better in his best period than in his early bad manner as a jackal; the wild horse was not an Impressionist and the race-horse a Post-Impressionist. All we can say of this notion of reproducing things in shadow or representative shape is that it exists nowhere in nature except in man; and that we cannot even talk about it without treating man as something separate from nature. In other words, every sane sort of history must begin with man as man, a thing standing absolute and alone.