A La Carte (9/18)

Shopping and False Intimacy [2] - This is a very, very interesting article, and one worthy of some reflection. “All of this has me considering church in 21st century America. I fear we may be loosing a valuable sense of intimacy between pastor and member. In a world where pastors tweet and congregations have Facebook accounts, it's easy to think an intimate relationship exists when all we really have are some dots of data loosely connected by our own assumptions and personal preferences.”

Short-Term Missions [3] - “Since the summer of 2008 our full-time mission team in Honduras has hosted 50 short-term teams consisting of 500 short-term missionaries. Many people ask, ‘Wouldn’t it just be better if all those people sent you money instead of wasting their resources and your time?’ Our answer is an emphatic no.”

Muslim Protests [4] - The Big Picture covers the worldwide Muslim protests.

Unsafe Hospitals [5] - “Bad doctors. Prescription errors. Surgical slips. Medical mistakes injure or kill hundreds of thousands of Americans every year.” This article looks at the ways that hospitals and health care have become unsafe.

Pleased to Meet You [6] - I don’t ever get tired of reading Carl Trueman. Today he says, “I have to say that I have never been subject to such evident and oppressive neophiliac normaphobia in all my life. The sooner normaphobes are categorised as hate criminals, the better it will be for those of us who belong to the despised minority of the once but clearly no longer normal.”

Within Two Worlds [7] - I’m still not tired of these amazing time lapse videos. “Within Two Worlds depicts an alternate perspective by giving us the illusion of times movement, signifying a beginning and end within a world of constant contradiction. It appears you are traveling in the midst of a dream, half-sleeping, half-waking, and touching the arch connecting heaven and earth.” Whatever. To me it’s all about the beautiful scenery.

Holiness is not freedom from temptation, but power to overcome temptation. —G. Campbell Morgan