Justin S Bockman

“When we adopt—and when we encourage a culture of adoption in our churches and communities—we’re picturing something that’s true about our God. We, like Jesus, see what our Father is doing and do likewise (John 5:19). And what our Father is doing, it turns out, is fighting for orphans, making them sons and daughters.”
― Russell D. Moore, Adopted for Life (Foreword by C. J. Mahaney): The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches

“The purpose for your authority in the lives of your children is not to hold them under your power, but to empower them to be self-controlled people living freely under the authority of God.”
― Tedd Tripp, Shepherding a Child's Heart

“Among the seven deadly sins of medieval lore was sloth (acedia)—a state of hard-bitten, joyless apathy of spirit. There is a lot of it around today in Christian circles; the symptoms are personal spiritual inertia combined with critical cynicism about the churches and supercilious resentment of other Christians’ initiative and enterprise.”
― J.I. Packer, Knowing God

“My friend N. D. Wilson was teaching once, and he asked the class to name some adjectives that describe Christian art. We said words like “mediocre,” “cheesy,” “shallow,” “trite,” “saccharine,” and “derivative.” He wrote them on the board, and the class nodded smugly. Then he reminded us that he didn’t specify modern American Christian art. What if we answered that question with people in mind like J. S. Bach, Tolkien, Rembrandt, Carravagio, and George Herbert? The adjectives change, don’t they? And for that matter, I would argue that even modern American art by Christians is far from cheesy and trite—if you’re looking in the right place.”
― Andrew Peterson, Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making