The Tulip Driven Life

A little perspective never hurt anyone. That's not true, but having no perspective except your own does nothing but hurt. What is perspective? It is a mental view or outlook, and I am convinced the more we can get outside of ourselves and see the world around us, the less our cultural bias will taint everything we think and feel and do. By seeing the world around us I mean attempting, as best we can, to understand other cultures, at the very least the ones that are pouring into the Great Melting Pot known as the United States. Certainly I refer to different ethnicities and subcultures even within each ethnicity, but beyond that, I also refer to those who are the "rich" of this nation, the "dirt poor," and everyone in between. The way to do this is simply by interacting with people from various ethnicities and backgrounds, cultures and climates. Or, read a book if you prefer. The important thing, however, is to grasp the underlying philosophy of those aroun...

I am listing these, not in order of most impacting or important, but chronologically. To say which was most important would be far too difficult, they have all been invaluable to me. 1.) THE Shocking Youth Message (Paul Washer)  I know several Calvinists who became Calvinists directly from this sermon preached by Paul Washer to 5,000 youth back in 2002. If sermons can be considered classics, this one will be when we look back 15 years from now and see young Calvinists teeming across America proclaiming the true gospel and denouncing the Charles Finney, Billy Graham decisionism that has plagued this nation for nearly two centuries. If you come out of the non-Calvinist, Baptist youth group setting like I did, and if you went to Christian school, this message will especially resonate with you. I had never heard preaching like this when I first heard it. I didn't know there was such a thing. It is an hour long, and I listened to it three times, back to back, i...