Skip to content ↓

A La Carte (5/11)

A La Carte Collection cover image

I was doing a phone interview last night and had a rather awkward moment. I was in the basement and as I was answering a question, I spotted a hamster in the window well, trying to get into our house (or get out of the window well). I hadn’t expected that. When the interview wrapped up, I managed to track down its grateful and relieved owner (who lives 2 doors down). End of story.

More Friends Online – This seems rather significant. “There really is something in that lingering suspicion that most users of social networking sites have more friends in cyberspace than reality.The average person has in fact double the amount of online friends than physical ones.”

Underage Facebook Users – I am often asked in interviews how we should train our children to use social media responsibly. Here’s a good place to start: don’t cheat the system and get them a Facebook account before they are old enough to legitimately have one. And yet there are currently 7.5 million Facebook users who are underage (who have lied or whose parents have lied to get them an account).

Starbucks, Vocation and the Mundane – Here are some interesting thoughts from Matt Perman about vocation.

Unspoken Truths – As cancer ravages his body, Christopher Hitchens is finding his voice leaving him. You can’t help but pity the man; you can’t help but pray for him.

The ‘Education’ Mantra – “One of the sad and dangerous signs of our times is how many people are enthralled by words, without bothering to look at the realities behind those words.” Ain’t that the truth! Thomas Sowell writes about “education” and how it is one of those words.

Thriving at College – Speaking of education, my friend Alex Chediak wants you (or your kids or your grand kids) to thrive at college. And that just happens to be the title of his new book. Here is a very positive review of it.

The King’s English – Now this is pretty clever. This video ties into a unique blog effort. In honor of the 400th anniversary of the King James Version, this blogger “will blog on a phrase each day that has passed into common parlance: popular phrases like ‘labour of love’, ‘beast of burden’, ‘wits’ end’ and ‘scapegoat’; but also phrases that should be more popular, like ‘filthy lucre’ and ‘gird up thy loins’.” (see http://kingsenglish.info/)

We spend our years with sighing; it is a valley of tears; but death is the funeral of all our sorrows.

—Thomas Watson

  • Pleasure Obligation

    A Pleasure More Than An Obligation

    Christians are often portrayed as downcast and dour, as people who are trapped in a system of beliefs that robs them of joy and life. And with a bit of honest self-examination, we can probably think of times when we have fit the cliché.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (March 14)

    A La Carte: The West’s strange genius / Healing the way women hurt each other / AI skeptics / The world after reading / What about the children? / What caregivers should know about dementia / and much more.

  • Sex and Self-Forgetfulness

    Sex, Self-Forgetfulness, and the Joy of Serving Your Spouse

    I often think there is a kind of paradoxical quality to sex within marriage. It’s paradoxical in that few things have greater ability to bring blessing (through its right use) or to bring cursing (through its misuse). Not only that, but few things bring greater joy to a marriage, and also, in so many cases,…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 13)

    What happened to our pastor? / Youth ministry needs seasoned saints / God’s sovereignty when things don’t go as planned / Preach sermons that algorithms don’t reward / A pastor remains in Beirut / and more.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 12)

    The grief ambush / Forgotten, and that’s good / The foibles and fallibility of Christian leaders / Welcome back, church planting / Weakness is not the enemy / Bad reasons to read the Bible / Bible and book sales.