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A La Carte (5/3)

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It is a double birthday in the Challies home today, with my wife turning [something] and my youngest daughter turning 5. Question is, when there are two birthdays, do you do one cake and put both names on it? Or do you do a cake each? I’m going with the one cake this year…

You Have Multiple Blood Clots – David Murray writes about a medical crisis he faced last week. (This is also the reason that David and I have not recorded a podcast in a couple of weeks)

eBook Sale – At Cruciform Press we are having a Mother’s Day sale on a couple of books that mom might like.

A Praying Life – Speaking of ebooks, Paul Miller’s A Praying Life, a really good book on prayer, is available for free for the Kindle. Get it soon because it won’t be free forever.

Reformed RapChristianity Today puts the spotlight on Reformed rap.

Now – My little sister, who lives in Ringgold, Georgia, writes about life after the tornado that flattened so much of her town. “We have our power back, we have our water back…we can surf the net. It’s amazing what these crews have done in just a couple of days. We sit here and we feel guilty…just a block over there are people who have no homes…everything is gone. Again, we thank God for what we do not deserve.”

9Marks – The newest 9Marks newsletter is out and it focuses on issues related to church membership. I tend to read it for the book reviews.

Jesus Wants My Heart – Daniel Renstrom has released an EP of children’s music (iTunes only). Go ahead and buy it and you’ll be helping fund a full-length album for kids. And why not check out his other albums–they are well worth the purchase.

God’s Holiness – A sermon jam featuring Richard Ganz.

If you don’t believe in the devil’s existence, just try resisting him for a while. –Charles Finney (yeah, I know, it’s Finney; but it’s a great quote)


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    A La Carte (December 9)

    A La Carte: Reforming generosity / Let the young man come to church / Your wife is beauty / Combating imposter syndrome / Be known, not impressive / Dan McClellan / and more.

  • AI Slop

    The Rise of AI Book Slop

    We often hear these days of “AI slop,” a term that’s used to refer to the massive amounts of poor-quality AI-created material that is churned out and unceremoniously dumped onto the internet. This was once primarily artistless artwork and authorless articles, but has now advanced to much bigger and more substantial forms of content.

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    A La Carte (December 8)

    A La Carte: A plea to older women / Let someone serve you in suffering / Why AI writing can’t compete / Influencers / The hidden danger in online sermons / Discipling young people / Excellent Kindle deals / and more.

  • Hymns

    Pitch Perfect and Tone Deaf

    God commands us to sing. Yet while some of God’s people are gifted singers, the plain fact is that others are not. In any congregation, it’s likely that some have near-perfect pitch while others are functionally tone-deaf. Those who struggle to sing may be self-conscious, tempted to stay quiet or to do no more than…

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    Weekend A La Carte (December 6)

    A La Carte: Rightly ordered desires / Ordinary wonders / For my good, not my comfort / Make room for special-needs families / Christmas spirit / Wisdom rarely makes you famous / and more.