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A La Carte (January 1)

tuesday

Happy New Year! There are all sorts of good Kindle deals to begin the new year from a wide variety of authors and publishers.

Free this month from Christian Audio is Spurgeon’s tremendous Morning and Evening. There are some other Spurgeon-related audiobooks deeply discounted.

Free from Logos is Isaiah for Everyone by John Goldingay which I’m really not familiar with.

(Yesterday on the blog: My Favorite Photos From a Year of Travel)

Words of Truth for a New Year

“For Christians, the start of a new year arrives with reminders afresh of the glorious promises that God has made to his people through the Bible. For Christians—those who have repented of their sin and received Jesus Christ as their Savior—a new year is a chance for renewed commitments to seek after God and to share the good news of Jesus.”

New Year’s Resolutions for God’s Glory, Not Our Own

If you’re still thinking about resolutions, you’d do well to read what Burk Parsons has to say. “The skeptical observer may ask: Is all this new year’s fervor genuine? Is it helpful? Is it really necessary? Moreover, the curious onlooker may ask: Is it even appropriate to make resolutions? After all, shouldn’t we at all times and all seasons seek to live wisely, obediently, and biblically?”

Register for Do More Better from Ligonier Connect

Ligonier Ministries is offering a lightly moderated version of my course on productivity. You can join up and get the new year off to a great start!

Love, Laughter, Family and Life Lessons: A Tribute to My Grandparents

I thoroughly enjoyed this tribute to godly grandparents. “When I look at the bond we share as a large family and the values that have shaped us, I think of the role played by my grandparents – Appacha and Ammachi as we call them. Some of our best memories as children and teens were at Appacha and Ammachi’s house at Ranni, Kerala. We generally visited them every other year and spent a little over a month with them.”

The Perils of Banning “Fake News”

I’m fascinated by the growing battle about free speech and social media. “Free speech should not be sacrificed to combat fake news. Adopting legislation to shield against fake news has major implications and is highly perilous. When the printing press was invented, it brought along a radical shift in information technology. The same has happened in the digital age. It is thus our task to prevent Western democracies from committing the very same mistakes the Church did.”

Cities at Sea: How Aircraft Carriers Work (Video)

Aircraft carriers are incredible “floating cities.”

Ending on a High Note

Jared Wilson: “There is an inextricable connection between God’s glory and our salvation. Were it not for God, we would be falling from grace every waking second. It is he who keeps us from stumbling; it is he who qualifies us as blameless. So Jude wants to ascribe to God all that he is due: glory (credit), majesty (beauty), dominion (jurisdiction), and authority (power).”

Flashback: 5 Reasons We Eat Together as a Family

It was my final year of high school but my first year at Ancaster Public High School. I was in sociology class when the teacher asked this: How many people here eat dinner as a family at least twice a week? Two of us put up hands—me and the only other Christian in the class.

The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.

—C.S. Lewis

  • 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.