Today’s Kindle deals include quite a strong collection. Al Mohler’s book on the Apostle’s Creed is there along with another collection of P&R’s excellent 31-Day devotionals. And more besides!
(Yesterday on the blog: The Prosperity Gospel We Sometimes All Believe In)
Narcissus in Public
“On the first day of the Christmas holidays, I took my family to downtown DC, ending the day with what we had envisioned as an idyllic skate at the ice rink in the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden. Although it was lovely, as ice skating always is, the experience was marred by the presence, for most of our one-hour skate, of a cluster of young women for whom the rink’s only value was as background scenery for Instagram glamour shots.” Keep reading and you’ll probably learn a new word as I did: meretricious.
What Are Your Plans for This Year?
I appreciate this wife and mom explaining what her plans are for the year ahead. “I’m sure God has something planned for me and perhaps that’s why the monotonous description of my day-to-day does not chafe. Surely, God has something for this year. But how to find it?”
A Famous Poet, KFC, and Peace With My Past
Rebekah Matt explains some of the ways she has been permanently marked by growing up poor.
Does Empowerment Come From Boudoir Photoshoots?
Lara D’Entremont continues to write transparent and moving articles about surviving sexual assault. “I see my body as full of gruesome marks, marred by a man who believed he could do whatever he liked to it, and lay it before my Deliverer as I get dressed. I bring the fragments of my anxious, despairing mind before him, begging him to somehow knit it back together and redeem it.”
Surrendering Them to God
“When my oldest son was preparing to leave for college six years ago, I sat next to him on his bed and said I have to ask you something. ‘Is Jesus your Lord and Savior?’ I was crushed when he said, ‘I don’t want to hurt you, Mom, but no.’ The Lord gave me a great blessing that day. Because after the shock and fear subsided, I came to realize fully that it is not Vanessa who changes hearts, it is the Lord.”
Sermon Prep: Not How Long, but Where?
You can always find discussions about how long pastors should spend preparing their sermons. Mark Jones adds to the discussion here by suggesting pastors should probably spend a bit less time in the study and a bit more elsewhere. This, he thinks, could really help them elevate their preaching.
Flashback: I Still Do: A Marriage Course for the Middle Years
It has been my observation that churches tend to invest a fair bit of effort in preparing couples to begin a healthy marriage, but perhaps a little less in helping couples sustain a healthy marriage.
A Jesus who never wept could never wipe away my tears.
—C.H. Spurgeon
