How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read is a book by Pierre Bayard, a professor of French literature at the University of Paris. In what is a bit of a provocative book and one that relies on more than a small measure of wit, Bayard argues that not having read a book does not…
In his book Expository Listening (read my review) Ken Ramey offers a list of ways you can “Plan Ahead, and Schedule Your Week Around the Ministry of the Word.” “For the majority of people, even church members, church is not the priority of their week. Too often school, work, sports, and other activities take precedence…
I woke up feeling all gross and sick today so, for the first time in at least six months, I’m declaring a sick day. Rumor has it that there’s some ugly but short-lived flu making the rounds so maybe it’s got me. Between me and you, I’m actually kind of looking forward to the excuse…
Yesterday I spent some time thinking about how and why and where we all buy our Christian books. I started with the question, “Why do people shop at one e-commerce store and not another.” And from there I just found more and more questions that were asking for answers. I started writing out such questions…
A new Thursday brings us to our next reading in Richard Sibbes’ classic The Bruised Reed. This week we were to read chapter 6 (“Marks of the Smoking Flax”) and chapter 7 (“Help for the Weak”). Summary Some weeks I like to provide a summary of the content of the chapters we’ve read. Today, though,…
Consumer Debt Is Not Your Friend – Seth Godin explains why you need to get out of debt (or better yet, not get there in the first place). Deacons Are Shock Absorbers – Thabiti’s got a roundup of the content from the latest edition of the 9Marks eJournal (which looks particularly helpful this time around).…
It is the Lord’s delight to grant us what we ask of him in prayer. Like David, we all ought to pray, “O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth” (Psalm 54:2). If Christians did not believe in the effectiveness of prayer, there would be no reason for us to…
Pilgrim – Tony Reinke writes about Pilgrim, a musical production of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. It’s available now on DVD and looks quite good. Nashville Landmarks Flooded – Here is a roundup of photos showing the flooding in Nashville. Ernie Harwell – One of the all-time greats in his field has died. “Ernie Harwell, the…
Classic Petra – I’m not sure what to do with this information. “The latest band to join the ranks of the re-united is the original line-up of the classic rock band, Petra! That’s right, before John Schlitt was the band’s signature frontman, diehard fans will remember that Greg X. Volz was the band’s original singer.…
It may well be that when we read a history of our day, the beep will be declared the defining noise of a generation. The beep is a purely human sound, one without any equivalent in nature. No animal, no plant, makes a beep. You know the sound well. The beep begins and ends with…
5 Reasons You May Not See Spiritual Growth – Jonathan Dodson offers five reasons that you may not be seeing spiritual growth at the moment. Amillennialism 101 – Monergism Books would like to send you a free CD. “With the generous permission of Dr. Kim Riddlebarger, Monergism is giving away for free this incredible CD…
After a while I start to feel lazy when posting quotes and prayers from other people. But this prayer from Scotty Smith is a good one. I love his prayers for their humanness. I like The Valley of Vision as much as the next guy, but somewhere along the way the prayers take on a…
A few days ago I received in the mail a copy of Amazing Dad by Stephanie Byrd. This is a self-published book and by far the exception among the self-published books I receive–it is really and truly good. Byrd has combed through the letters of the great statesman William Wilberforce, the letters to his children,…