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A La Carte (January 23)

monday

Today’s Kindle deals include several good books: Desperate (an excellent book for women), a MacArthur title on spiritual growth, and a worthwhile series from Crossway.

When You’re Not On the Same Page, But In The Same Book

Here’s an important lesson based on today’s political discourse: “If the church is to be any sort of counter-cultural movement, if it is to have any effective witness to a watching, suspicious world, it better be able to model what it means to love someone who vehemently disagrees with you on a whole range of cultural and political matters.”

Trump Inauguration Gigapixel

This is an amazingly high-resolution image captured during President Trump’s inauguration. It is strangely fascinating to zoom in on different people.

In a Country Where Abortion is Illegal

Here’s a fascinating perspective on abortion that comes from a different culture (and a different continent). “We tend to think that unjust things happen in third-world countries. But have you ever considered that the practices of your nation are shocking to someone in the third-world? I am not talking about just culture shock, but real moral outrage.”

Kenyan Doctor Strike

This one also comes from Africa and shares the joys, sorrows, and challenges of medical missionaries working in Kenya. Note: one of the photos shows a fair bit of blood.

What If You Aborted a Future Janitor?

I’m thankful to Jared Wilson for exposing the poor reasoning behind a common argument.

This Day in 1821. 196 years ago today Baptist missionary Lott Carey sailed with 28 colleagues from Virginia to Sierra Leone and became the first African-American missionary to Africa. *

The Life-Changing Magic of Showing Up

“We are obsessed with lifehacks and shortcuts today. Everywhere ads hit us with easy trick to grow our investments, to make dinner prep a breeze, to give us a toned body in seven minutes, to rack up credit card points. We’re tempted to believe that maybe, somehow, there’s a real shortcut there for Christian community and spiritual growth.”

Gerascophobia

“Are we gerascophobic—afraid of aging? So obsessed with youth that an ageing face, nevermind ageing itself, is increasingly viewed as a chemically treatable disease?” Yes, I suspect we are.

Flashback: The Most Difficult Time to Lead

“I receive the emails often, the emails from the man who wonders how he, he of all people, could possibly lead his family. He has blown it. He has sinned too often, too flagrantly, too publicly. Usually it is the porn: She found the stash on his hard drive or the links in his browser. Hard-earned respect was demolished in a moment.”

When Satan tempts God is always present, just as when God blesses, Satan is never absent.

—J.I. Packer

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  • The Phrase that Altered My Thinking Forever

    This week the blog is sponsored by P&R Publishing and is written by Ralph Cunnington. Years ago, I stumbled repeatedly on an ancient phrase that altered my thinking forever.  Distinct yet inseparable. The first time I encountered this phrase was while studying the Council of Chalcedon’s description of the two natures of Christ. Soon after,…

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    Always Look for the Light

    For many years there was a little potted plant on our kitchen window sill, though I’ve long since forgotten the variety. Year after year that plant would put out a shoot and from the shoot would emerge a single flower. And I observed that no matter how I turned the pot, the flower would respond.…

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  • Confidence

    God Takes Us Into His Confidence

    Here is another Sunday devotional—a brief thought to orient your heart toward the Lord. God takes the initiative in establishing relationship by reaching out to helpless humanity. He reveals himself to the creatures he has made. But what does it mean for him to provide such revelation of himself? John Calvin began his Institutes by…

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