A La Carte (July 2)

Today’s Kindle deals include a few interesting titles. You may also want to check out this month’s general market deals and get some summer reading.

You’ll want to take a look at this month’s free audiobook from Christian Audio. You can also get a free course (and some discounted ones) from Logos.

Yesterday on the blog: On Renaming the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal)

Is There Anyone Praying For You?

This is a neat story about an unexpected opportunity to pray. You just never know how the Lord is working.

If It Be Your Will

Should we qualify our prayers with, “if it be your will?” R.C. Sproul provides an answer.

Christian, Rethink Your Public Speech

“Believer, if you truly relish a life of turmoil, public anger, boiling arguments, caustic debates and throwing out verbal darts like porcupine quills, you will genuinely help the cause of Christ by not identifying publicly as a Christian. I’m serious. We are in desperate need of Christian wisdom, but not barbaric untamed and undignified rhetoric. It’s doing us no good.”

The Story of Canada’s Weird Radio Laws (Video)

These odd regulations date back to 1971 yet continue to define Canadian radio.

Should We Celebrate the Fourth of July at Church?

This is probably a day late, but still worth considering. “The Fourth of July is just around the corner. Even now American churches are planning their Sunday service around it. Maybe they’ll include a patriotic hymn like ‘God Bless America’ or the national anthem. Maybe men and women in uniform will parade the American flag down the center aisle. Maybe a congressman or mayor will offer a ‘special word.’ I love patriotic music, fireworks on the National Mall, and the country they’re honoring. But I confess I’m not a fan of celebrating America inside Sunday’s sanctuary. It just might work against Jesus’s Great Commission.”

Wet Book Rescue (Video)

Here’s how to rescue a book that has been water damaged.

Seven Strategies for Fighting Envy

Envy is one of the ugliest sins. “Envy is a stingy and demanding master. It’s stingy because, unlike many other sins, there’s absolutely nothing pleasurable about experiencing it. Most sins bait the hook: lust offers excitement and escape, greed promises wealth and pleasure, gossip promises power and participation in the inner circle. And many sins are at least temporarily pleasurable (that’s why we do them).”

Flashback: The Danger of Coasting

I do not coast toward Christ, but toward self. When I stop caring, when I stop expending effort, when I allow myself to coast, I inevitably coast away from God and godliness.