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A La Carte (July 24)

wednesday

I’ve been on an overnight flight (Good morning, Amsterdam!), so did not have much time to look for Kindle deals. I did pull out at least a couple, though.

Busyness and Rest

Kevin DeYoung writes about the busy (or not-so-busy) life of Jesus: “He was busy, but never in a way that made Him frantic, anxious, irritable, proud, envious, or distracted by lesser things. When all Capernaum waited for His healing touch, He left for a desolate place to pray.”

An Open Letter to the Child Facing End-of-Life Decisions for a Parent

Kathryn Butler has a helpful letter for children who are facing end-of-life decisions for a parent.

Expat … With a Drill — How Living Cross-Culturally Messes With Your Values

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. “This month we crammed the full sum of our belongings into eleven 52.0 pound (23.6 kg) suitcases and plastic tubs (not counting carry ons or the cat) and threw the whole heavy bit on an airplane so we could (once again) call ourselves expatriates. Two years ago we took a strikingly similar trip in an airplane going the other direction so we could call ourselves repatriates.”

I Made Myself Lose My Phone

This all sounds rather compelling, to be honest.

I Deserve This: One of My Heart’s Favorite Lies

Melissa Edgington: “Glamour claims that this moment is a ‘mood.’ Others have called it an inspiration and a battle cry for women everywhere. I suppose for once in my life I would have to agree with Glamour. I do see Megan’s declaration as a mood. It’s a mood that I recognize because I have so often lived in it–that space inside my own mind and heart where I tell myself that I deserve more. I deserve better. I am owed. I am underappreciated.”

When the Doctors Have No Answers

Kimberly Wagner writes about how God is sustaining them, despite some serious difficulties. “The response to our questions kept playing the same refrain, ‘We just don’t know.’ That’s what they tell us. As we sit quietly in a high-rise office in downtown Dallas, surrounded by a sprawling medical campus, filled with the highest tech medical resources, the most keen minds in their fields, the most extensive research and respected expertise. But they just don’t know.”

For the Pastor’s Kid: Your Dad Needs You

“We know the ins and outs, the people, the events, the issues, the newest members. We can label each face in the directory and point visitors toward the nursery hall on Sunday morning. Whoever we are, from whatever church background we’ve emerged, you and I share this in common: Our pastoring dad critically needs our support.”

Flashback: Porn’s Ever-Evolving Verbs

Sin goes from thrilling to boring in an instant. Discontent to merely look at or watch what God forbids, we demand to also experience it and participate in it. Inevitably we will find ourselves dissatisfied, longing for new verbs that express deeper depravity.

Make church attendance such a habit that there’s never a need for your kids to ask, “Dad, Mom, are we going to church tomorrow?”

—Paul Tautges

  • The idol of popularity

    The Idol of Popularity

    I can speak with first-hand experience to this because it is an idol I once had to fight. I had to take radical action against it.

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    A La Carte: Don’t tolerate secret sin / Stability in a world of chaos / Advice to a young father / Marriage yields compound interest / Diabolus Ex Machina / Gifts guaranteed in prayer / and more.