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A La Carte (August 18)

wednesday

May the Lord bless and keep you today.

There are a number of Kindle deals to look at today.

Those who prefer printed books may want to look at Westminster Books and their deals on books by J.I. Packer.

How Afghan Pastors Reflect on God’s Sovereignty

Writing for TGC, Mark Morris writes about Afghan pastors. “In early July, Afghan pastors and church leaders made a difficult decision. They decided to formally register their faith with the Afghan government. What an absurdity to register as Christians in an Islamic republic that prohibits a person from converting to Christianity! Against the advice of many, these Afghan church leaders felt compelled, for the sake of future generations, to legally declare their true faith in Christ.”

Take Care About Talking About Things That Don’t Matter Here

This is an important reflection from Darryl Dash. “I love reading theology and about issues and personalities. I read over a hundred blogs and read magazines. I have opinions about many issues that are swirling around evangelicalism and the world. Most of my people don’t care.”

The Real World?

Nick Batzig says that “the sad reality is that while many potificate over fabricated evils on social media in the Western world, the better part of those enduring extreme suffering in the Middle East, North Korea, and Africa never get a voice on social media. Most of what we rant about in our bubble is child’s play compared to the real evils of a fallen world.”

When God Gives Apples

Lauren Washer writes about apples … and discouragement.

The Broken Church Light

This is a well-told story from Doug Eaton.

She Is Broken, and She Is Beautiful

Glenna Marshall’s church, like yours and mine, is both broken and beautiful.

Further Up and Further In

“No matter how long we live or how much we study, we will never come to the end of our knowledge of God. The more we learn, the deeper our relationship with God becomes. We will never know all there is to know, since there is always something greater, something richer, and something more glorious to be experienced.”

Flashback: 3 Keys To a Powerful Prayer Life

Christian, find a quiet place and a quiet time where you can quiet your heart before God. These are the keys to powerful prayer, to effective personal devotions.

People thinking they’re smart because they searched the Internet is like thinking they’re good swimmers because they got wet walking through a rainstorm.

—Tom Nichols

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    New and Notable Christian Books for April 2025

    It is surprisingly difficult to find a list of Christian books that have been released in any given month—especially if you want that list to be filtered by books released through particular publishers. That’s one of the reasons why I close each month by coming up with my list of New and Notable books. I…

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    What Makes You Beautiful

    I have often thought of a conversation that took place when my girls were little. Abby was perhaps 5 or 6 at the time and Michaela just working her way through the “terrible twos” (which for our kids always happened when they were three or four). A stranger saw me interacting with them one day…

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    A La Carte: He cares for us / Will the pope to go heaven? / An easy Christian faith / The good we cannot see / Chickens, elephants, and freedom / When we skip the prophets / Kindle and book deals / and more.