Articles for tag: Jay Engelbrecht

March 26, 2017

Christian Standard

Lady Wisdom, Ben Franklin, and the Marlboro Man

Jay Engelbrecht Your creator designed you to live healthy and well. How can we cooperate with his yearning for our best? Let”s test your knowledge of the book of Proverbs. Three of the quotes below come from Eugene Peterson”s modern paraphrase The Message, while the other two come from founding father Benjamin Franklin. Can you identify the source of each? 1. “Don”t stuff yourself; bridle your appetite.” 2. “He that won”t be counseled can”t be helped.” 3. “When you”re given a box of candy, don”t gulp it all down.” 4. “Eat to live, don”t live to eat.” 5. “It”s not smart

April 26, 2015

Christian Standard

Enough Is Enough

By Jay Engelbrecht Jacob never won a “Father of the Year” trophy. When his boys were young, he was scheming, acquiring. Enough was never enough. You know the story, the tragic news, weeping for his beloved Joseph. By the time he was an old, old man, he had learned. Told that Joseph was back from the dead, Jacob said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die” (Genesis 45:28, World English Bible). Quality time. Fast-forward thousands of years. Bitterness and grief poured out of the preacher”s daughter, who loves her

March 15, 2015

Christian Standard

Balm in Gilead

By Jay Engelbrecht There is balm in Gilead, To make the wounded whole; There”s power enough in heaven, To cure a sin-sick soul. The opening line of an old African-American spiritual answers Jeremiah”s rhetorical question, “Is there no balm in Gilead[?]” (Jeremiah 8:22, King James Version*). In Marilynne Robinson”s novel Gilead, I discovered balm for my soul. The novel”s narrator, a fictional Iowa preacher named John Ames, is dying. He uses his remaining days to write an account of his life for his young son. Three sentences in Gilead changed the way I view 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, which reads: Listen,

February 26, 2015

Christian Standard

Paradise Lost, Maybe

By Jay Engelbrecht Is there a link between the way we care for the earth and our closeness to the creator? Put another way, can we serve Christ and sully his creation? The link between mankind”s spiritual health and the vitality of the earth courses through Scripture. John Milton, though blind, saw the connection. In his classic Paradise Lost, Eve, seduced by the idea of becoming a god, disobeys her creator, and nature “gave signs of woe.” A short time later, Adam opts to defy his creator and follow Eve. The rebel couple “fancy that they feel Divinity within them

December 6, 2013

Christian Standard

King Corn and Captain Kirk

By Jay Engelbrecht My grandmother quoted Scripture to warn me against the evils of alcohol. But today another culprit wreaks equal, if not greater, harm. “Never take a drink and you”ll never become a drunk.” When my grandmother admonished me to avoid alcohol, she did me a world of good. Her advice spared me weight gain, high blood pressure, heart disease, certain types of cancer, diabetes, and dementia Thanks, Grandma. Of course, she cared more about my character than the physical impact of alcohol. Her view on alcohol was influenced by Deuteronomy 21:20: “They shall say to the elders, “˜This

November 27, 2012

Christian Standard

Ezekiel”s Endless Summer

By Jay Engelbrecht I tend to be skeptical, but the facts have convinced me. As new heat records continue to be set, decade after decade, as the evidence continues to mount, I can no longer deny that climate change is real. When my dad was growing up, his family butchered a cow every November, then hung a side of beef outside, and ate off it all winter. The meat never spoiled. I live in the same area, but these days, I play football in short sleeves with my son on November afternoons. Thirty years ago I helped a neighbor put

August 31, 2012

Christian Standard

Bigger Issue than Same-Sex Attraction?

By James Engelbrecht Individuals with same-sex attraction make up as much as 6 percent of the male population and 4.5 percent of females (though some studies estimate half that). Those are not insignificant numbers, especially when same-sex attraction involves you or someone you love. Thus began Mark Moore”s February 12, 2012, column, “How Should the Church Relate to Those with Same-Sex Attraction?” Here”s the rub. As a follower of Christ, I hear Christians say: “Keep your nose out of my private life.” “It”s my body.” “Christians aren”t called to be judgmental.” “It”s not a sin. I”m this way due to

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