Mike Wittmer

Category: miscellaneous

  • Twain on German

    If you’ve ever had to learn German, you would probably agree with Twain’s musing that the German sentence is like a dog that jumped into the Atlantic Ocean, swam to the other side, and got out with a verb in its mouth. In his autobiography, Twain also humorously pokes at the German tendency to create…

  • keep it light

    Last night I took along a collection of Spurgeon’s writings on death, so I’d have something to read while I waited for my son’s band concert to begin. I forgot how much I enjoyed Spurgeon’s style. Even when his theological conclusions are wrong–such as death for the Christian is actually a cure–his homespun illustrations are…

  • the tax man cometh

    I’m in the middle of an intense four week writing assignment–more on that later–so I haven’t had time to blog as much as I’d like. But in case you missed it, Christianity Today has an interesting article on the precarious position of the ministerial housing allowance. Senator Charles Grassley’s investigation of the alleged improprieties of televangelists has…

  • Meadors’ Video

    Last night at the GRTS banquet we enjoyed this video put together by the students to honor Gary Meadors, who is retiring and taking his talents to South Beach. If you ever had Dr. Meadors in class, you will enjoy this. If you haven’t, then you probably won’t. By the way, the soundtrack is Gary’s…

  • separated at birth

     As a loyal GRTS employee but also a snake bit Cleveland fan, this may be more than I can bear.  One of these brothers recently came out of retirement to take a front office job, and with his Christian quarterback and big play offense, intends on leading his team to the Promised Land. The other is John…

  • let it go

    I was watching the evening news last night, because I love to go against the grain, and I saw this perfect, and a bit funny, sermon illustration that should immediately replace that tired one about the monkeys who won’t unclench their fists so they can take their hands out of the jar. That’s a good one, but…

  • hello, world

    I realize that I have been away from blogging for a couple of months and will now have to work hard to get both of my readers back. But I can explain: I stopped blogging in January in order to meet a publisher’s deadline for my inspirational book on death–it won’t be out until next January,…

  • scholastic comedy

    I’m in the middle of the end of semester grading, and here are some interesting comments I’ve seen so far. One paper footnoted the term “the.”  It was obviously a mistake, as there is not a whole lot more information you can give down below. Another sentence read “Notice the tow ‘ifs.’”  To which I…

  • throwback Sunday

    Next year we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James Version, so wouldn’t it be cool if churches dusted it off for a throwback Sunday?  The fact that I just used an archaic term like “cool” is a sign that I am really excited about this idea.  Any reasonably accurate throwback Sunday should include…

  • not going anywhere for awhile? the ultimate snickers ad

    You’ve probably seen the news about the 60 mile traffic jam outside Beijing that will take weeks to unclog.  Beijing was overcrowded in the early nineties when I lived there, and I can’t imagine ten million people with cars.  On the other hand, the people stuck in this jam have probably ridden in the hard…