We recently had a chance to visit with Kirk Billiter, author of the new book Strike the Flag: The Significance of Surrender in Leading and Serving Others, and a long-time friend.
CD: Writing a book is a significant undertaking. What led you to write this book?
KB: My short answer is: I had stories—many of them, lived, remembered, and redeemed by God. I began gathering them years ago, writing about God’s redemptive hand in my life and the quiet, steady ways He has proven faithful through both ordinary days and seasons marked by deep struggle and change.
The second thing my wife Rebecca and I did in 2021 that led me to write this book was join our friend, Eric Elder’s on-line writer’s cohort. We learned so much from him and others in the cohort. In 2022, the whole writer’s cohort went up to Starved Rock to meet for a weekend of writing and training. That jump started me to begin gathering the ideas for writing this book. Continue reading


For the Christian, there are many ways to approach prayer. Some have a daily time set aside for prayer built into their schedule, perhaps in the morning with a cup of coffee and their Bible and devotional reading, or perhaps it is as you rest your head on the pillow. I tend to pray throughout the day, but do most of my praying as I take walks, with a brief time of prayer as I rest my head for sleep at night.
Aging is an important aspect of finishing well. It doesn’t matter what our age is, we all tend to age differently. When I retired, I went out with a large group of co-workers. A financial planner that the organization brought in to speak to us told us something that I remember clearly, even though it has been more than eight years ago as I write this.
Matthew Bingham’s book A Heart Aflame for God: A Reformed Approach to Spiritual Formation was introduced to our church leadership team by our lead pastor at our annual leadership retreat last fall, who encouraged all of us to read it. It has since become a very influential book in our church, with many reading and discussing it, including our officer candidates. You can read my review of the book
Matthew Bingham’s book A Heart Aflame for God: A Reformed Approach to Spiritual Formation was introduced to our church leadership team by our lead pastor at our annual leadership retreat last fall, who encouraged all of us to read it. It has since become a very influential book in our church, with many reading and discussing it, including our officer candidates. You can read my review of the book
Matthew Bingham’s book A Heart Aflame for God: A Reformed Approach to Spiritual Formation was introduced to our church leadership team by our lead pastor at our annual leadership retreat last fall, who encouraged all of us to read it. It has since become a very influential book in our church, with many reading and discussing it, including our officer candidates. You can read my review of the book
Our Father in Heaven,
I’ve been thinking a lot about how to finish well for our good and God’s glory. To finish well, we need to embrace stewardship. The concept of stewardship is defined as the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care. For the Christian, we can refine this definition as the management of God’s resources – time, talent, treasure, and creation – according to His purposes. Christians know that the resources we have – money, giftings, talents, property, etc. – are not our own, but we are stewarding them for God.
When a war breaks out, we want to know that the action was justified. So, when is it justified to use military force? In other words, when is war morally permissible? “Just War Theory” was primarily established by Augustine in the 5th century, and further developed by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. It is the Christian understanding of when war is morally justified, and how a morally justified war should be undertaken.