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A La Carte (11/9)

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It’s Tuesday, and Tuesdays are a strangely busy day for me. So without further ado, let’s get to today’s A La Carte links:

T4G via Hip Hop – I don’t know that anyone could have predicted the Calvinist resurgence we’ve seen in recent years. And even if someone could have predicted it, I don’t know that he would have foreseen the accompanying movement within the world of Christian hip hop. Erik Raymond writes about a recent show he took in and the ways in which it encouraged him.

Be Rare – Part one of this series has drawn my attention. Parts 2 and 3 will follow today and tomorrow. “While I was out running (er, jogging leisurely) this afternoon, two words popped into my mind. They were (you guessed it) ‘be rare.’ Shortly after I moved to California, a friend spoke those words to me over the phone. She said, ‘Leanne, be rare.’ I don’t remember much of anything else that we talked about those six-ish years ago, but those two words stayed with me. Today, they returned to the forefront of my mind and I wanted to share some thoughts with you.”

Interview with Ken & Joni – I don’t often listen to audio interviews, but I enjoyed this one with Ken and Joni Tada. It’s great to hear of their great love for one another and the way that God has sustained them through her fight with cancer.

1 Timothy 2:12 – Denny Burk takes a look at the rendering of 1 Timothy 2:12 in the new NIV (2011). “There is a reason why countless articles and even an entire book have been written on the interpretation of this single verse. In many ways, this verse is the most disputed text in the debate. It is clear that Paul is prohibiting something, but just what he prohibits has been fiercely contested.”

An Average Family’s Gas Prices – There’s probably something a little bit obsessive in a guy who tracks the price his family pays at the pump over a long period of time. Nevertheless, here it is. It’s amazing to see how the prices fluctuate. I remember those carefree days in the fall of 2008!

Twenty Untranslatable Words – Here’s a list of twenty words from around the world that just don’t lend themselves to easy translation. Like Jayus, an Indonesian word that refers to “a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.” I could use that word sometimes…

A letter may be written, when it is not sealed; so grace may be written in the heart, and the Spirit may not set the seal of assurance to it.

—Thomas Watson

  • When God Plants an Acorn

    When God Plants an Acorn, He Means an Oak

    We stood together on the crest of a hill, a gentle breeze rustling the meadow around our feet. The fields ran gently downward until they met a creek that gurgled happily in its course. A few years prior, an acorn had somehow made its way to the highest point of this hill, carelessly dropped there…

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    A La Carte (April 28)

    A La Carte: Protestantism’s Catholic converts / How healthy is your pursuit of health? / God’s special calling on your life / Considering a Christian university? / Testing the teachings of Catholicism / Kindle deals / and more.

  • New and Notable

    New and Notable Christian Books for April 2025

    It is surprisingly difficult to find a list of Christian books that have been released in any given month—especially if you want that list to be filtered by books released through particular publishers. That’s one of the reasons why I close each month by coming up with my list of New and Notable books. I…

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    Weekend A La Carte (April 26)

    A La Carte: Every pinch of pain has purpose / China closed Christian bookstores / Watch for the thing after the thing / For everything there is a time / Showers of blessing / What Pope Francis can teach us about preaching / and more.

  • What Makes You Beautiful

    What Makes You Beautiful

    I have often thought of a conversation that took place when my girls were little. Abby was perhaps 5 or 6 at the time and Michaela just working her way through the “terrible twos” (which for our kids always happened when they were three or four). A stranger saw me interacting with them one day…