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A La Carte (7/26)

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The Trellis and the Vine – The paperback edition of The Trellis and the Vine is now out and Westminster Books has it for sale at half price. It is an excellent book and as close to a must-read as they get. Buy one for yourself and one for your pastor!

The Good Christian Girl – I like the beginning and middle of this article more than the end, but either way it still has some good and interesting things to say about loading young women with expectations. “Once there was a good Christian girl who dreamed of growing up, getting married, and having children. She read all the right books and did all the right things. She read about how she was a princess in God’s sight and how he wanted the very best for her. She committed herself to sexual purity, to high standards, and to waiting for the good Christian man that God was going to bring her.”

Humbled(?) Haggard – You knew this was going to happen sooner rather than later. “The Rev. Ted Haggard stood at a pulpit made from stacked buckets one recent Sunday and announced his resurrection.” Notable bits from the story: “He acknowledged grave lapses of judgment in the episode he refers to as ‘my crisis.’ But Mr. Haggard also said that in his sorrow and shame, he accepted too much guilt after the scandal broke. ‘I over-repented,’ he said.” And “Mr. Haggard, who said he draws a weekly salary of $300 from St. James, said he founded the church as an act of humble repentance, because it forces him continually to confront his sin.”

A One-Pixel Sun – This graphic (which takes a while to load) starts with the sun being a single pixel and shows the relative size of some of the other stars in the universe.

New Calvinism – R.C. Sproul was recently featured in the Orlando Sentinel. “At 71, Sproul is one of the old guard in what’s known as the ‘New Calvinism’ movement, which Time magazine identified in 2009 as one of the ’10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now.’ Sproul has influenced a generation of younger conservative evangelists and this month announced the creation of a Bible college on his Sanford compound that could extend his influence for generations.”

Sketchy Characters – How accurate are police sketches? Here’s a round-up. The results are, well, not so good.

Information Overload – Here’s an old video where Ted Koppel discusses an issue that is still relevant.


  • Remember

    It Doesn’t Matter What You Remember

    I have a memory like a … what do you call it? That thing in the kitchen you use to sift the stuff you want from the stuff you don’t. A sieve! That’s it. I have a memory like a sieve. I joke about it at times, and about how I have to outsource remembering…

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    A La Carte (January 14)

    A La Carte: Always being right / Sex advice for newlyweds / Making Christianity look good / Soul care / Stop straining for shortcuts / When writing feels like a chair / Rare Kindle deals / and more.

  • Post Woke

    Are We Post Woke?

    It is too early to tell, I think, whether the “wokeness” craze has already peaked and even begun to slip into decline, or whether it’s just pausing to gather energy for another surge. What seems clear for the moment, though, is that it has lost at least some of its initial momentum, probably because it…

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    A La Carte (January 13)

    A La Carte: A cautionary tale / Raising hands in worship / Freshen your prayer life / Exposing adultery to the light / Reject the religion of efficiency / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Petty Fight

    Petty Annoyances and Minor Insults

    I wonder if you are like me in that, as you look back on your life, you realize that most of the circumstances that have troubled you, most of the annoyances and disgruntlements, were produced by circumstances that were hardly worth noticing.

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    A La Carte (January 12)

    A La Carte: Happy 80th, John Piper / Practical principles for marriage / Benefits for daily Bible reading / Philip Yancey / Stingy-generous / From sermon to article / Kindle and Bible study deals / and more.