Skip to content ↓

A La Carte (June 16)

wednesday

Good morning. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.

Westminster Books is doing a little spring cleaning and that has led to some pretty good sales.

There’s a reasonable list of Kindle deals today with more coming tomorrow.

Sometimes I Think I Hear Singing

This is a wonderful bit of writing. “I wake in the night to the moon rising, hushed, over the lake. I sense it there, in the soft lapping of water, in the cattails whispering in the breeze. I drive to an ordinary errand, on an ordinary day, and quietly, tenderly, feel a weight lift in my spirit.”

The Context of The Great Commission is a Miracle

“As the saying goes, ‘familiarity breeds contempt.’ The more accustomed we are to someone or something, the easier it is for us to be unimpressed. We can even become cynical.” Erik Raymond shows how this may be true of the Great Commission.

Why Our Secular Age Needs Ecclesiastes

This is a fantastic article about Ecclesiastes. It will make you want to read Ecclesiastes again!

The Strange Tale of the Identical Twin’s Mirrored Mansion

This is a bizarre and fascinating story of two eccentric twins and the house they built.

Book Hoarding

“Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance of books does his life consist of his library.” Jim Elliff has a little parable about book hoarding.

What Is Biblical Self-Care?

This is an interesting one from Eliza Huie. “To understand self-care biblically we need to look at it rightly. The best way to approach self-care is through the lens of stewardship.”

He Has Heard

Chris Thomas: “Maybe you have been in that situation where you have poured your heart out to another, yet at the end of the conversation, you went away thinking, ‘They did not hear me.’ But, oh how your soul sings when you feel that your heart’s cry has been truly heard! It makes all the difference. God has heard.”

Flashback: Consecutive Exposition Is Not the Only Way

While God makes it clear that we must preach the Word, he does not specify one method over the other. I wonder if we have veered too far in one direction.

Those are not likely to be skillful or faithful keepers of the vineyards of others who do not keep their own.

—Matthew Henry

  • Are You Binding the Wound or Aggravating It

    Are You Binding the Wound or Aggravating It?

    One of the privileges we have as Christians is the privilege of caring for one another—of blessing one another in our difficulties and comforting one another in our sorrows. In such “one another” ministry we represent God and extend love and mercy on his behalf. This is a precious and sacred ministry that falls to…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 26)

    A La Carte: The Jesus Geezers and Gene Hackman / Prayer is our fuel / John Mark Comer / On failure / Get grace, give grace / Book and Kindle deals / and more.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 25)

    A La Carte: Gen Z’s spiritual anxiety / Would you sell out Jesus for $4.37 billion? / Men need friendship, not just accountability / Building healthy relationships with your teens / The pastor’s wife / Sales and deals / and more.

  • Crash and Burn

    When Christians Crash and Burn

    The pictures quickly made their way around the world—pictures of an aircraft lying upside down in the snow just beyond runway 23 at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. On February 17, Delta flight 4819 landed hard, shearing off the right wing and flipping over before finally sliding to a stop. Remarkably, despite the crash and subsequent…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 24)

    A La Carte: Wokeness as a tax / The religion of wellness / Freckles, thigh gaps, and beauty / The 50 most edifying films / If I have matching dishes but not love / The Bible and sexuality / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Pastoral Prayer

    A Pastoral Prayer

    Every now and again I like to share an example of a pastoral prayer from Grace Fellowship Church. I do this because there are few examples of pastoral prayers online and I thought these may serve to inspire themes, passages, or ideas as other pastors and elders prepare to lead their churches in prayer. Please…