Happy Reformation Day to all!
As if you needed one for reason to celebrate the day when Martin Luther brought the hammer to Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany, here's one more:
My new trilogy, the Merivalkan Chronicles, is now out with the first installment, called Joël, and you can purchase it here if you like paperback or here if you're the Kindle type.
Happy reading, and if you need any extra motivation to read a tale that re-tells the story of Christ's entry into the world, look no further than the book's hook:
In the shadow of ruin ... comes a glimmer of hope.
One day a traveler from the north enters Selanna, the capital of the nation of Merivalka. Before long, this mysterious man known as Joël, who repairs broken and disfigured items, befriends some and contends with others, patiently teaching and exhorting citizens to embrace the mercy of Lord Creator. His message appears too good to be true for the proud yet subjugated Merivalkans. As Joël exhibits grace and truth, his followers cling to him and his enemies seek to destroy him at all costs. With authority and humility, Joël faces his adversaries all the way to a tragic end ... but will grief or grace have the final word?
Discover a glorious story of redemption and hope in Joël, the first volume in the Merivalkan Chronicles!
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Thursday, October 19, 2017
On Not Bowing Down to the Idol of Tests
This is a reprint of a post from my previous blog, but it bears repeating here. I am not an enemy of testing but I should stress I believe in testing well. More thoughts on that in a later post regarding what I believe to be the superior merits of the Classic Learning Test, but for now I want to share revised portions of an open letter I sent students three years ago.
Dear WCA-St. Louis students,
Standardized testing. Like death and taxes, it's a part of life. If things haven't changed since my student days, you students look forward to taking these tests about as much as the Luxembourgish army would relish attacking ISIS with nothing but Twinkies. I remember almost every test--whether it be the Stanford Achievement Test, Iowa Test of Basic Skills (which I rather liked because Iowa is near Kansas), or others--had the unmistakable effect of making me prefer getting a back massage with pliers dunked in SuperGlue. Maybe it was the fact that I was never a good standardized test-taker. Maybe I found a lot of other things a lot more interesting.
But in looking back on it, I think I knew instinctively that--as important as others claim these tests are for National Merit qualifying, colleges to get a look at rising possibilities, and other sundry bloviations--none of it would ever give the world a glimpse at the real me. And so as you Wildcats take these tests, take them seriously. (It's better than not taking them seriously) Don't just breeze through them. But that seriousness needs to be kept in proper perspective. A standardized test has limits, and even though it can give a snapshot of your learning or aptitude, it does NOT define you.
Don't believe me? Here's a list of things a standardized test cannot measure (with thanks to Craig Dunham for dealing with much of this before):
(1) Your creativity, your love of the art gallery that God has made this world to be, and your ability to add to that--to quote Gerald Manley Hopkins--"universe...charged with the grandeur of God."
(2) Your integrity and willingness to tell the truth, to be honest and clear and responsible no matter what the consequences.
(3) Your desire and ability to rise above the greatest pain and most abject trials, to suffer redemptively and endure well, and to encourage those who bear life's pain.
(4) Your aptitude of taking needed risks, to be an entrepreneur, to be an original and innovative thinker and doer.
(5) Your ability to receive constructive criticism and learn from it, or your ability to humbly receive praise and grow rooted in God's grace and delight.
(6) Your ability to empathize with others and forgive them if they wrong you, or your ability to ask forgiveness and reconcile with those you wrong.
(7) Your ability and desire to ask deeper questions, demonstrating the type of critical thinking that leads to more questions.
(8) Your willingness to work and partner with others to learn from them and with them.
(9) Your love of reading...because no matter what a test does in testing reading ability, it cannot measure the passion and delectable desire to curl up with a great book and lose yourself in another world.
(10) Your smile, the twinkle in your eye, and any other noticeable feature that gives joy to the heartbeats of others just to be in your presence.
Standardized testing. Like death and taxes, it's a part of life. If things haven't changed since my student days, you students look forward to taking these tests about as much as the Luxembourgish army would relish attacking ISIS with nothing but Twinkies. I remember almost every test--whether it be the Stanford Achievement Test, Iowa Test of Basic Skills (which I rather liked because Iowa is near Kansas), or others--had the unmistakable effect of making me prefer getting a back massage with pliers dunked in SuperGlue. Maybe it was the fact that I was never a good standardized test-taker. Maybe I found a lot of other things a lot more interesting.
But in looking back on it, I think I knew instinctively that--as important as others claim these tests are for National Merit qualifying, colleges to get a look at rising possibilities, and other sundry bloviations--none of it would ever give the world a glimpse at the real me. And so as you Wildcats take these tests, take them seriously. (It's better than not taking them seriously) Don't just breeze through them. But that seriousness needs to be kept in proper perspective. A standardized test has limits, and even though it can give a snapshot of your learning or aptitude, it does NOT define you.
Don't believe me? Here's a list of things a standardized test cannot measure (with thanks to Craig Dunham for dealing with much of this before):
(1) Your creativity, your love of the art gallery that God has made this world to be, and your ability to add to that--to quote Gerald Manley Hopkins--"universe...charged with the grandeur of God."
(2) Your integrity and willingness to tell the truth, to be honest and clear and responsible no matter what the consequences.
(3) Your desire and ability to rise above the greatest pain and most abject trials, to suffer redemptively and endure well, and to encourage those who bear life's pain.
(4) Your aptitude of taking needed risks, to be an entrepreneur, to be an original and innovative thinker and doer.
(5) Your ability to receive constructive criticism and learn from it, or your ability to humbly receive praise and grow rooted in God's grace and delight.
(6) Your ability to empathize with others and forgive them if they wrong you, or your ability to ask forgiveness and reconcile with those you wrong.
(7) Your ability and desire to ask deeper questions, demonstrating the type of critical thinking that leads to more questions.
(8) Your willingness to work and partner with others to learn from them and with them.
(9) Your love of reading...because no matter what a test does in testing reading ability, it cannot measure the passion and delectable desire to curl up with a great book and lose yourself in another world.
(10) Your smile, the twinkle in your eye, and any other noticeable feature that gives joy to the heartbeats of others just to be in your presence.
(11) The desire to seek that which is inherently beautiful, true, noble, virtuous, and the greatest exemplary and generous portions of Western Civilization.
(12) And a standardized test will never...NEVER pursue you, live the life you are incapable of living, die the death you deserved, and rip up its own grave so that every day it can live to delight in you and empower you to follow it.
You are worth infinitely more than any score on a standardized test. So go out and do your best, Westminster students. Just keep this whole thing in proper perspective.
Pax vobiscum,
(12) And a standardized test will never...NEVER pursue you, live the life you are incapable of living, die the death you deserved, and rip up its own grave so that every day it can live to delight in you and empower you to follow it.
You are worth infinitely more than any score on a standardized test. So go out and do your best, Westminster students. Just keep this whole thing in proper perspective.
Pax vobiscum,
D
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Worrisome Trends
As a teacher, I am privy to numerous occurrences in academia. One that I've noted with interest is the following phenomenon:
1- Parents want the best for their kids (so far, so good).
2- Kids have access to more technology and so instead of building independence and working through their own issues, help is only a call or text to mom and dad away.
3- Parents and kids are convinced the slightest deviation from perfection or excellence can damage the child.
4- A few other things in the mix...
And you get the following reality, courtesy of the New York Post.
Memo to parents: Allow your kids to struggle, to make authentic choices (you can still offer advice, you know!), and to fail, to fall, and pick themselves up.
Otherwise, we'll be raising a nation of people expecting stuff to be handed to them.
And you can forget about durable, emotionally sturdy human beings. Let alone the hope of us being able to stand up to terrorists.
1- Parents want the best for their kids (so far, so good).
2- Kids have access to more technology and so instead of building independence and working through their own issues, help is only a call or text to mom and dad away.
3- Parents and kids are convinced the slightest deviation from perfection or excellence can damage the child.
4- A few other things in the mix...
And you get the following reality, courtesy of the New York Post.
Memo to parents: Allow your kids to struggle, to make authentic choices (you can still offer advice, you know!), and to fail, to fall, and pick themselves up.
Otherwise, we'll be raising a nation of people expecting stuff to be handed to them.
And you can forget about durable, emotionally sturdy human beings. Let alone the hope of us being able to stand up to terrorists.
Ballack Is Back!
The wheelchair-bound, skeptic-agnostic minister's offspring known for bringing his unique blend of logic and intuition to murder cases throughout the St. Louis region?
Yeah, the gumshoe who stiff-arms faith yet gets dragged to horrific deaths in spiritual environments?
Yes, that Detective Cameron Ballack?
He's back. Officially today, he is back on literary duty.
For the paperback, go here. The e-book will be up and ready for download before too long.
Good to have everyone back in the Ballack universe as our Teutonic justice bringer returns!
Yeah, the gumshoe who stiff-arms faith yet gets dragged to horrific deaths in spiritual environments?
Yes, that Detective Cameron Ballack?
He's back. Officially today, he is back on literary duty.
For the paperback, go here. The e-book will be up and ready for download before too long.
Good to have everyone back in the Ballack universe as our Teutonic justice bringer returns!
Friday, October 13, 2017
For the Love of Words
Why do you listen to a sermon? Perhaps the better question is, Do you listen to a sermon? Or a speech? Or major address? Obviously, the reason we would give along expository lines is "To draw out the truth, to give proper attention, to be confirmed or challenged in my beliefs." Of course, those are good reasons. I'd like to share one more I've become more aware of lately.
Because we have an opportunity to savor language.
My daughter Lindsay bemoans that people are too caught up in their gizmos, gadgets, and videos, that information must be moving and visible, and no one (her words) makes time for poetry or creative writing anymore. While I would debate the "no one" charge, I think there is merit to the idea that fewer and fewer people are enjoying language anymore. And a scant minority of folks, I'd say, spend any time in wonder about the beautiful usage of the English language itself.
I've spent a great deal of time lately studying the English Reformation...and when I say "great deal of time" I mean "insane numbers of hours"...and what strikes me is two things:
1- How clearly and competently they understood biblical truth
2- How gorgeously passionate is their use of the English tongue.
You really can't get a grip on the development of the English language if you refuse to study the English Reformers, particularly Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and John Jewell.
Cranmer himself said once, "In the Scriptures be the fat pastures of the soul. Therein is no venomous meat, no unwholesome thing. They be the very dainty and pure feeding. He that is ignorant shall find there what he should learn."
Wow. On a scale of 1 to 10, that's a 46.
I've been reading through a newly-bought copy of The Book of Homilies, a collection of sermons written for English rectors and priests to preach in the critical years of the English Reformation, for the purpose of establishing the church's doctrine amongst the people in their own tongue.
In the first sermon, "An Exhortation to the Reading of Holy Scripture", the writer (likely Cranmer) says, "And concerning the hardness of Scripture: He that is so weak that he is not able to brook strong meat, yet he may suck the sweet and tender milk, and defer the rest until he wax stronger, and come to more knowledge."
Chills, people. That should give you pure chills.
In the second sermon, "On the Misery of Man", the writer speaks thusly about King David's bewailing of his sin in the Psalms: "He weigheth rightly his sins from the original root and spring-head, perceiving inclinations, provocations, stirrings, stingings, buds, branches, dregs, infections, tastes, feelings, and scents of them to continue in him still."
A more beautiful statement about the sinful nature of man would be hard to find. It's hard enough to get most preachers today to address the topic.
What we need today is not entertainment for enjoyment's sake or to make our educational classrooms a series of game shows. Rather, we need to re-discover these "fat pastures" of language and engage with texts that challenge rather than lower us.
Every day when I read a portion of the Homilies, I close by thanking God for two things--the truth revealed therein, and the beauty of the English language. It's there, you know, for those willing to chase its glory.
Because we have an opportunity to savor language.
My daughter Lindsay bemoans that people are too caught up in their gizmos, gadgets, and videos, that information must be moving and visible, and no one (her words) makes time for poetry or creative writing anymore. While I would debate the "no one" charge, I think there is merit to the idea that fewer and fewer people are enjoying language anymore. And a scant minority of folks, I'd say, spend any time in wonder about the beautiful usage of the English language itself.
I've spent a great deal of time lately studying the English Reformation...and when I say "great deal of time" I mean "insane numbers of hours"...and what strikes me is two things:
1- How clearly and competently they understood biblical truth
2- How gorgeously passionate is their use of the English tongue.
You really can't get a grip on the development of the English language if you refuse to study the English Reformers, particularly Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and John Jewell.
Cranmer himself said once, "In the Scriptures be the fat pastures of the soul. Therein is no venomous meat, no unwholesome thing. They be the very dainty and pure feeding. He that is ignorant shall find there what he should learn."
Wow. On a scale of 1 to 10, that's a 46.
I've been reading through a newly-bought copy of The Book of Homilies, a collection of sermons written for English rectors and priests to preach in the critical years of the English Reformation, for the purpose of establishing the church's doctrine amongst the people in their own tongue.
In the first sermon, "An Exhortation to the Reading of Holy Scripture", the writer (likely Cranmer) says, "And concerning the hardness of Scripture: He that is so weak that he is not able to brook strong meat, yet he may suck the sweet and tender milk, and defer the rest until he wax stronger, and come to more knowledge."
Chills, people. That should give you pure chills.
In the second sermon, "On the Misery of Man", the writer speaks thusly about King David's bewailing of his sin in the Psalms: "He weigheth rightly his sins from the original root and spring-head, perceiving inclinations, provocations, stirrings, stingings, buds, branches, dregs, infections, tastes, feelings, and scents of them to continue in him still."
A more beautiful statement about the sinful nature of man would be hard to find. It's hard enough to get most preachers today to address the topic.
What we need today is not entertainment for enjoyment's sake or to make our educational classrooms a series of game shows. Rather, we need to re-discover these "fat pastures" of language and engage with texts that challenge rather than lower us.
Every day when I read a portion of the Homilies, I close by thanking God for two things--the truth revealed therein, and the beauty of the English language. It's there, you know, for those willing to chase its glory.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)