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A La Carte (August 20)

monday

I’m not quite yet back from vacation, but close enough that we are back to our normal schedule at the blog. It has been a good time in Europe, but I’m ready to get back to normal life again!

I have once again updated the Kindle deals page where you’ll find quite a few good deals.

(Yesterday on the blog: Letters to the Editor (Gospel, Porn, Sober Warnings, and Joel Osteen))

The Church Needs Fewer Men Who Feel “Called” to Ministry

“We need fewer men who feel ‘called to ministry’ and more men who aspire to the office of elder. But if we dump the language of calling, how do we know if we should pursue ministry? Here are five indicators…”

Beware Theological Dangers on Both Left and Right

Tom Schreiner: “We live in a world, as we see in the political realm, where those who disagree are quickly demonized, where partisan concerns are ramped up. As Christians, we mustn’t follow the same path. We need to be vigilant for the truth and to defend the faith. At the same time, we need to be careful about drawing lines too tightly, and to beware of pulling out the heresy charge too quickly. We need to ask ourselves if the brother or sister simply disagrees with us and with our theology.”

The Strange Case of Kijong-dong And Daeseong-dong

This is kind of bizarre and really quite interesting. “As part of the armistice signed, a 4-kilometer strip of buffer zone called the DMZ or the Korean Demilitarized Zone, stretching the entire 250-kilometer-long border was created separating the two countries. Both nations were required to evacuate their part of the DMZ of all civilian settlements, except one that each nation was allowed to keep or create. These sole outposts, thinly masquerading as working villages, were built for propaganda to extol each side’s superior way of life. They sit directly opposite each other.”

Watch One Family’s Journey Through A Life-Changing Face Transplant (Video)

“In this short film, follow the incredible journey of Katie Stubblefield’s family as they wait for a donor for her face transplant.” A a book geek, I couldn’t help but notice that a Tim Keller book made a cameo appearance. Also, I wish they hadn’t cut short the prayers because prayer seemed like it was more meaningful to the family than to the filmmakers.

How TripAdvisor Changed Travel

Since I am traveling a lot this year, I found this article interesting and informative. Like most people, I probably have an over-reliance on TripAdvisor! Why would I bother climbing a 4.5-star mountain when I could climb a 4.6-star mountain?

Hit Totals Take a Nosedive as Strikeouts Surge

This is for those baseball fans out there. “One thing you learn from studying baseball history is that people have always predicted the sport’s demise. Over and over, the game weathers every perceived crisis and continues to thrive. More than 70 million fans will attend major league games this season; another 40 million or so will go to minor league games. Countless more watch the sport on television and online. And yet attendance is down, and more and more balls are being kept out of play. Some longtime observers consider the shifting landscape — hitters swinging for the fences, pitchers throwing everything with maximum effort, fielders standing in unusual spots — and wonder what has happened to their game.”

Hill Country Farming (Video)

We saw a dog herding some goats in Switzerland a couple of days ago. He was not nearly as skilled as these ones. There’s a strange kind of beauty watching this from the air.

Flashback: Two Gifts You Give To Others in Your Sanctification

The means God uses to sanctify us are a gift to the rest of the church so others can be encouraged by our faith, so they can be motivated by our endurance, so they can weep with us who weep and rejoice with us who rejoice.

Teens have to learn algebra, economics, et cetera, in high school, but at church we’re like “Noah built an arky arky outta gopher barky.”

—Dan DeWitt

  • Prayer

    Spread Too Thin

    With so much to do, we can easily begin to wonder whether prayer is an appropriate use of scarce time. Wouldn’t it be better to give my attention to something that would let me cross something off my to-do list?

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    Weekend A La Carte (July 12)

    A La Carte: Where art thou Rob Bell? / The case against in vitro fertilization / Praying and weeping for those suffering in Texas / Greet each other with a holy hug / The example of Jimmy Swaggart / and more.

  • Thriving Marriage

    Thriving Marriage

    I have often wondered about the best time to write a book about marriage. When a couple is young, there is so much about marriage they have not yet experienced. They can still impart wisdom and teach lessons, of course, but there is so much of marriage that remains unknown to them. Yet when a…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (July 11)

    A La Carte: Falling out of repentance / Tattoos as confession / The Epstein List and secret sins / Teaching generosity / Lessons from a former youth pastor / Bedbugs in the bowels of the city.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (July 10)

    A La Carte: Questions for a maturing marriage / The lesbian seagulls that weren’t / But mommy, why? / A time to be tired / The modern rise of Stoicism / and more.

  • The Stranger

    The Stranger: A Short Film For You

    Based on a true story and inspired by the truth that character comes before competence, “The Stranger” is an honest, light-hearted and meaningful picture of what it means to truly serve others.