A couple of years ago, Andrea Doering, the outgoing (and outstanding) senior acquisitions editor at Revell Books, asked if I had any ideas for a devotional book based on hymns. I suggested a date-based approach to mining the riches of the hymnbook. I had in mind a cross between the concepts behind two of my other books: “On This Day” and “Then Sings My Soul.”

The result is a brand new devotional book, “Near to the Heart of God,” 366 stories about hymns presented day by day, each on a day connected with that hymn.

Here are some examples from among the January installments:

• You might be surprised to learn that “Amazing Grace” was originally a New Year’s hymn. It was first presented on January 1, 1773, as part of a New Year’s sermon preached by John Newton in Olney, England.
• The wonderful music for the hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” was written by Lowell Mason, the “Father of American Church Music,” who was born January 8, 1792.
• The great hymn, “Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me,” was sung by the perishing passengers aboard the steamship London as it sank in a gale on January 11, 1866.
• B.B. McKinney wrote the powerful invitational hymn, “Wherever He Leads I’ll Go,” during a Sunday School Convention on January 17, 1936, in Clanton, Alabama.
• January 21 is the birthday of Edward Mote, a cabinetmaker and preacher, who wrote the favorite Gospel song, “The Solid Rock” (“My Hope is Built on Nothing Less”).

Out of the lives of composers, poets, hymnists, and out of the stories of the hymns themselves come 366 true stories, plus the words of these theological gems we call hymns — all with the purpose of encouraging your day with the deep, timeless truths of our Scriptures and our songbooks.

“Near to the Heart of God” will be released in October. Find out how you can reserve one of the first copies at an incredibly low price by clicking here.

During a recent flight, I sat beside a man from the Department of Defense who was stationed in Key West. Among other things, he helps monitor the flow of illegal drugs from Mexico and Latin American into the United States. He also coordinates with his counterparts in central Asia. He told me that drug enforcement agencies are stopping about seven percent of the illegal drugs flooding into our country from the south.

Here’s the interesting thing. And according to his assessment, the war in Afghanistan is largely about the drugs that are flowing into Europe at unstoppable rates. So…

• In America, millions of people are living under the influence of illegal drugs from Latin America
• In Europe millions are doing the same on drugs coming from central Asia, especially Afghanistan. 

“The West has become its own worst enemy,” he said, “and things are getting worse.”

It wasn’t a very encouraging conversation, but it made me realize the priority of our Gospel mission to this sinking culture – and of the power of Christ alone to do anything about it.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting today that Claremont School of Theology in east LA is now “reaching beyond Christianity” to train Muslims and Jews for ministry in their respective faiths. Claremont, which has been historically aligned with the Methodists, is aiming to become the first multi-faith seminary.

This apparently means that’s if you’re a Christian, they’ll teach you to be a minister. If you’re a Jew, never mind; you can become a rabbi there. What’s more, bring on the Muslims — if you’re Islamic, Claremont will train you to be an imam. Eventually the seminary wants to add programs training Buddhists and Hindus. (There was no mention of how long before they begin training atheists).

This multi-faith philosophy is based on an assumption that all religions are equally true and all faith systems universally valid. That philosophy is patently absurd. But this is the logical course of affairs for those who begin diluting the Gospel until it amounts to little more than cherry Kool-Aid.

I’ve never understood liberal seminaries. Why would someone want to learn to preach a book they didn’t believe was really true? I have no interest in proclaiming a message that’s been watered down to mere humanitarian sentimentality. Why devote one’s life to a message that isn’t exceptional, exclusive, and eternal?

The  message of Jesus Christ — with its indisputable facts, its solid historical foundations, its inspired and infallible Word, its unique Gospel, its one-and-only Savior, and its great commission – is exclusive, exceptional, matchless, indescribable, and eternal.

Truth is not a multiple choice question in which all the answers are right.

Two of the greatest ministries of twentieth-century Christianity are making a mark on a new new generation — the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Columbia Internationl University.

Today it was my joy to address the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Charlotte, North Carolina, and tonight I’m at Columbia International University, where I have the honor of giving the commencement address tomorrow. I cannot describe the impact these two institutions have had on my life.

If you’re in the Charlotte area, please make a visit to the Billy Graham Library. It’s like reading a biography and attending a crusade both at once, and it’s deeply emotional, meaningful, educational, and motivating. If you travel through Columbia, South Carolina, take time to drive onto the campus of CIU, a school with the historic mission “to know Him and to make Him known.”

David Gibson, our TDF intern who is traveling with me this week, and I are deeply grateful for the hospitality given us by our friends at BGEA and CIU. Here are some pictures, including David in Billy Graham’s private office; and Mr. Graham’s favorite desk.

Yesterday I had hoped the damages to The Donelson Fellowship were less than we had feared; today we realized they are worse; and our optimism about our church insurance also took a major hit. In my sermon last Sunday, I said that it’s alright to be alarmed at first, so I put that point into practice at once. But just as I was reeling, I overheard Sherry Anderson on the phone to friends of mine in Houston who are readers of my books and prayer warriors for our work. I told them what was happening, and they called back within minutes with news that an $12,000 check was on its way to help with our TDF Basement Renovations. It’s a blessed beginning, an initial token of God’s provision. The Lord will help us with our losses as we help our families who have suffered loss. Here are some pictures I took of TDF. The last shot is one I took this morning in the area below my house on Pennington Bend.

Lord, help us to handle difficult days spiritually, not emotionally.

Many of our TDF members who live down the street from me and in other parts of the city have lost their homes this weekend. The Pennington Bend area is devastated and the scenes of flooding are surreal. The Opryland Hotel, which I can see from my front porch, is flooded.

Katrina and I live on Pennington Bend, but our house is on the crest of a hill and thankfully we’re safe. But I wanted to give an account from my own limited perspective as to how quickly the flood rose.

On Friday night and Saturday, the rain became torrential and alarming news began coming of cars under water on the interstates. It was still raining on Sunday morning, and we had to make a decision about whether to cancel services. I checked with some other churches and they were having services for those who could come; and area businesses were still open including restaurants. So I decided to do the same at TDF.

In the minutes before the first service, the storms worsened. I wore old clothes and was drenched by the time I got to my office, where I changed into dress clothes. At the last moment, I changed my sermon to an extemporaneous message from 2 Chronicles 20. We made it through the first service, but some people had to leave to deal with water issues at their home.

Between services I inspected the lower levels of the building and was pleased to find no serious leakage. Word was coming in of roads being closed; and we abbreviated the second service. Afterward when I went downstairs I was bewildered to find everything flooded in our adult and youth areas, and in our beautiful new children’s ministry center. We all felt like crying, but there was nothing to do except wait for the waters to recede.

We cancelled evening services and left. Back home, the rain was falling in torrents and I went out in the downpour to dig trenches and try to divert the water from my house. It was coming down the gutters in tanker-fuls. 

Then I went back to the church and sloshed through the half-foot of water covering our basement carpet. It was still rising.

I met Van Stewart and his family there, and we learned that conditions were deteriorating on Miami Drive at the bottom of Pennington Bend. We got in his jeep to go see if we could help; but the road to Miami goes through a low-lying area and the water came up to the engine of the jeep.

When the engine stalled in high water, we jumped into the waters and pushed it out to dry ground, and went on foot to our friend’s house where neighbors and TDF members were trying to evacuate their possessions. The Cumberland River had already engulfed their basement and was almost to the door.  We worked in the pouring rain, carting out things without rhyme or reason and feeling sick over the quick dash of so many antiques, precious items, and important papers with no time for packing or care. We got everything into a truck, but unfortunately by that time it was too late to get the truck out.

Then news spread that the corps of engineers was opening the dam, and we had ten minutes or we’d be trapped. Almost everyone except the residents grabbed one last load then started leaving.

I was ready to try to get out on foot through the deep water, but Mike Bishop thought his truck might make it. I didn’t. But when Tim Polston forded the river with his truck, we decided to give it a try. The river came up to the hood of Mike’s truck, and the engine almost stalled several times. I don’t understand how we made it. It was as though the truck turned into a boat, and Mike forced it through, with a wake flying up into the windshield. We made it, but we were heartsick about our friends who stayed on what was now an island-street.

Back home, I changed into dry clothes again and then went back to TDF to see Jeff Nichols who was desperately trying to find a way to save our basements. He sent out word and about fifty people came to try to sweep out the water. We finally gave up.

All the time, we were beside ourselves worrying about our friends down the Bend and on Miami Ave. Word came that they were being rescued by boat, and one by one many of them arrived at the church. My most frightening moment was when I learned that two of our young men, along with another man, had been left behind and had tried fording a part of the river and were almost swept away. It’s a miracle they managed to regain their footing and climb to a point where they could be rescued.

For now, everyone is safe and housed. I’ll post some pictures tomorrow of the basements at TDF. Thanks to all who have prayed and worked so hard over the past forty-eight hours.

  Sunday I’m planning to begin a three-part series of Sunday morning messages at The Donelson Fellowship titled Managing Your Time, Managing Your Life. For many years, I’ve been a student of the techniques of time management; and for many years I’ve been a student of the Bible. In these messages, I’m going to try merge these two interests and humbly offer some strategies for tacking today’s tasks and completing the work God has given us to do.

This is stewardship. Usually in church circles, when we think of stewardship, we think of money. But time is like currency of a different realm.

• If money is silver, time is gold.
• If material wealth can be symbolized by rubies, time can be represented by diamonds.
• If we mismanage our money, we simply try to make more of it. But there’s no making of any more time. When a moment is gone, it’s gone forever, like sand through an hourglass.
• If we squander our money, we’re likely to face short-term pressure, which will be immediately obvious to us; but if we squander our time, it leads to long-term loss that may not be readily apparent.

Until we appreciate the value of time and learn to manage it with skill, we cannot manage ourselves. But when we learn to manage our time, we will manage our lives. And when we learn to manage our lives, we’ll be able to manage our tasks and our daily work. As we do so consistently, we’ll finally arrive at the end of our earthly lives having accomplished the work that Christ gave us to do.

Here’s a valuable lesson about the importance of reviewing your work, your life, and your decision before they are sent forth. The BBC reported this week that an Australian publisher has had to destroy thousands of copies of a newly-published cookbook and to reprint the entire edition at enormous expense because of one errant word.

One of the recipes called for “salt and freshly ground black people” instead of black pepper.

Oops!

It’s so easy to hit the wrong keys! Blessed is the person who spots his mistakes in advance.

One of the most important but underreported stories in today’s news is Turkey’s disturing move toward hardcore Islam, as indicated in major political shifts of recent weeks.

For years, Turkey has been one of the more “moderate” Islamic nations, thanks to its military, which has staunchly maintained a secular, democratic approach to politics as was instituted by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Now the military has fallen, and hardcore Islamists may begin phasing in a new Islamic fundamentalism. Turkey is a member of NATO, is strategic to the Middle East conflict, and has the seventh largest economy in Europe.

This could well be another of the dominos falling as we get ready to usher in the events described in the book of Revelation. It’s not hard to see the pieces fitting together.

PS – For more on this story, read today’s article in the New York Times. For more study into the book of Revelation, join us Sunday night at TDF at 6 for KALEO.

Liberal scholars and minimalist archaeologists are standing on their heads today, trying to figure out the latest headlines from Israel.  Even the left-leaning National Geographic is admitting the sensational nature of the discovery and announcement by Dr. Eliat Mazar regarding the wall Solomon built around Jerusalem according to 1 Kings 3.  Verse 1 of that passage says:

Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh King of Egypt and married his daughter.  He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem.

The National Geographic headline is: King Solomon’s Wall Found—Proof of Bible Tale?

The second sentence of the article says: “The discovery appears to validate a Bible passage….”  This story is all over the news.  Here are some links if you want to read more about it here and here and here.