A La Carte (June 17)

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include a commentary on Ephesians, Powlison’s Seeing with New Eyes, Ortlund’s What It Means to Be Protestant, and more.

Recommended Reading

How We Tell the Story of Down Syndrome. Writing for The Dispatch, Amy Julia Becker explains something crucial: how we tell the story of Down Syndrome makes a massive difference to the way we understand and respond to it. “The way we tell the story of Down syndrome—the language we use, the statistics we present, and the anecdotes we share—shapes the choices we make, individually and collectively, to reject or receive the lives of people with Down syndrome among us.” (Gift Link)

The Comfort & Assurance of Baby Steps in Sanctification. There is encouragement in this: “When we think of baby steps, we don’t think of Usain Bolt. We think of cute little kids waddling forward. They’re not fast. They’re not even steady, but they’re making progress. There’s at least one thing that a toddler and Usain Bolt have in common when ‘running’—they’re both moving forward.”

Young Man: What Are You Good At? This is a helpful article for young men to read—and not-so-young men, for that. “Young man. Are you good at something?1 I’m not talking about something you happen to be good at without any real effort on your part, like minute-to-win-it games or being able to find Waldo with uncanny speed (I speak from experience). Nor am I talking about skills you’ve developed in some virtual world, like having a high ranking in Fortnite or building impressive creations in Minecraft. I’m talking about a functional knowledge or ability in the real world that serves or blesses others in real and tangible ways.”

We Don’t Hate and Then Harm—We Harm and Then Hate. It is important to understand the relationship between hate and harm and, of course, the way to avoid them both. “We live in a world of ceaseless conflict. And when we look for the source of that conflict, we often assume it’s hatred. We hate people and then treat them poorly. It’s because we feel contempt toward others that we sin against them. But that’s only half the story. Often it’s the other way around. First, we hurt someone, and only then do we begin to hate them.”

Discipleship Does Not Equal Shepherding: A Crucial Distinction in the Female Pastor Debate. Definitions and distinctions matter, and that’s Jonathon Woodyard’s concern here. He differentiates “between the call of every Christian to make disciples and the call of some to serve the church in the office of pastor, and why that makes such a big difference in the debate on female pastors.”

Boy Trip 2026. I enjoyed reading David Hall’s description of his recent “Boy Trip” for his grandsons. “Seize the most of every opportunity, parents and grands, because the children will grow up and we will grow older. So we do what’s important while we can. Don’t put off using your summer for family discipleship. Then build on that after summer.”

What Do You Recommend?

Here’s a reminder of what I said on Monday: I often let you know what I enjoy and recommend. I thought I would ask you to tell me what you are enjoying and would recommend to other readers. It could be a book, an article, a product, or anything else. I will compile some of them and share them on the weekend. Just fill out this form to share what’s bringing you joy these days—and what might bring joy to others. (The form won’t appear in the email newsletter, so you’ll need to click through to fill it out.)

If you are recommending a product, please consider providing a URL.

Flashback

How To Bear Up Under Your Burdens. God may not make you able to bear your burden without pain, but he will make you able to bear it with joy. Just as he sustained his people as they wandered the wilderness, so he will sustain you through your wilderness.