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A La Carte (June 22)

friday

I’m in San Diego today and looking forward to speaking several times at the IBCD conference on the theme of “Loving Wayward Souls.” I hope to meet some of you here! Then it’s back home Saturday to worship with my church family on Sunday.

(Yesterday on the blog: The Lost Spiritual Discipline)

The Dangers of Distracted Parenting

Parents (like myself) ought to consider this: “A mother telling kids to go out and play, a father saying he needs to concentrate on a chore for the next half hour—these are entirely reasonable responses to the competing demands of adult life. What’s going on today, however, is the rise of unpredictable care, governed by the beeps and enticements of smartphones. We seem to have stumbled into the worst model of parenting imaginable—always present physically, thereby blocking children’s autonomy, yet only fitfully present emotionally.”

How Much Money Do You Save by Cooking at Home?

Now you’ve got the data to back up what you already know: It’s way cheaper to eat at home. “Intuitively, we all know there are benefits to cooking at home. You can use healthier ingredients, set portions to a reasonable size, avoid food allergies, and of course you can save money compared to ordering restaurant delivery or using a meal kit service. But just how much money do you save by cooking at home?”

The Great Commission Ought to Be Ordinary

“In this brief clip from his new teaching series, The Great Commission, Burk Parsons explains that what Christ calls Christians to do in the Great Commission ought to be ordinary.” So simple but so very true.

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Brazil’s Geography Problem (Video)

Standing between Brazil and its place as one of the world’s powerhouse nations is a significant geography problem. This video explains.

The Legacy of John Gerstner, Presbyterian Historian and Mentor to R.C. Sproul

I quite enjoyed this conversation about John Gerstner, who was a major mentor to R.C. Sproul.

When Children Say They’re Trans

I’m linking to this longform article from The Atlantic because it’s one of the few I’ve seen in a mainstream publication that at least grapples with the fact that transgenderism is causing a lot of terrible problems in a lot of people’s lives. The author affirms far too much, but at least draws attention to young people for whom a gender transition proved a horrible solution.

William Wilberforce’s Lesser Known Campaign

William Wilberforce was, in many ways, an exemplary individual. Here’s just one of those ways.

Flashback: How To Distinguish True Zeal from False Zeal

While zeal is a noble trait, it must be properly directed, for not all zeal is good. Here are some pointers on distinguishing true from false zeal.

I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.

—John Wesley

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