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A La Carte (5/11)

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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

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    A La Carte (February 10)

    A La Carte: John Piper on aging with joy / Lessons on money / Who we are when we disagree / Don’t be a discouraging Christian / Gender surgeries for minors / Church-loving children / Kindle deals / and more.

  • The Breakthrough Prayer

    The Breakthrough Prayer

    I am certain you have had a time when the Lord has brought you to a sudden, unexpected point of repentance or resolution. Perhaps you’ve been fostering a sin, and while you may have known it was sin, you haven’t been willing to deal with it—to put it to death and come alive to righteousness.…

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    A La Carte (February 9)

    A La Carte: The challenge of Greek Orthodoxy / Overcoming the spouse bottleneck / A movement, not a business / Let it snow / Same-sex attraction / Heaven on earth / Kindle deals / and more.

  • In the Way of Temptation

    In the Way of Temptation

    We do not often speak of duty today, but Christians traditionally spoke of it often. In fact, Christians understood the means of grace as duties, responsibilities of every believer toward God. And while these duties are the means through which God provides us with his grace, they are also the means through which God guards…

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    Weekend A La Carte (February 7)

    A La Carte: Harder is not always holier / Is Claude my friend? / Christians and Nietzsche / Survivalist to convictional leadership / Wild, unorganized, and totally worth it / The songs I once found dreary / and more.