A La Carte (May 21)

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include some solid deals from The Good Book Company, like What Cannot Be Lost and Mental Health and Your Church.

Logos users will want to be sure to look at this month’s free and nearly free deals. You’ll also find thousands of products discounted for Memorial Day, as well as some good options in the Monthly Deals.

Recommended Reading

One Step Becomes a Three-Day Walk. Timarie Friesen tells about some people who are engaged in a remarkable ministry. “Three men stepped into the forest at dusk. They knew the risks. Pumas and venomous snakes, rivers with no bridges, and ravines below slippery paths. Carlos, Rodolfo, and Elver carried backpacks brimming with shoes for climbing mountains, and tall, waterproof boots for crossing rivers. Also, a soccer ball and Bibles, hardcovers and solar-powered audio Bibles.”

Three Truths to Combat Your News Anxiety. Paul Sadler writes for those who struggle with news-related anxiety. “Even though the news is triggering the anxiety, people compulsively check the news for reassurance, the way a person repeatedly checks to see whether the doors are locked for fear of an intruder. We fixate on worrying circumstances that are beyond our control and, as a result, experience elevated stress, headaches, sleep problems, and feelings of dread and helplessness. Three foundational truths from the Bible about the future can help with this.”

The Staggering Beauty and Burden of Church Life. It does us good to marvel at the beauty of church life. “Gathered here are young and old, rich and poor, black and white; notorious sinners and sweet old ladies and everything in between. All of these lives, these burdens, joys, and journeys, flash through my mind as I glance around for a few seconds during a song. And it hits me again, what a wonder the church of God is, just the sheer beauty and burden of church life. And this is just one little church. To think that this panoply of beauty and burdens is multiplied hundreds and thousands of times across our nation; it’s astonishing.”

A Veil Before the Eyes of the Enemy: On Tolkien, Foolishness, and the Ordinary Means of Grace. This is a thought-provoking article, and I think you’ll enjoy reading it. “Even amongst committed Christians, there is a sense that the scripts and narratives of the previous generation simply are not working. Many are looking for more rebellious and radical alternatives. If current leaders are not offering a viable and foreseeable future, then things need to be torn down, discarded, started anew, etc. And as a younger millennial myself, I sympathize with the more youthful reactionary impulse. Things are not as they should be.”

Denominational Health Depends on the Understory. Trevin Wax has a strong piece on denominational health. “Every summer, when news comes out from various denominational meetings, you’ll notice a pattern. There’s always a controversial vote. A social media storm. Commentators declare the institution either irredeemably corrupt or finally on the right track, depending on what side they’re on. There’s the noise of newsletters and statements, frequent hand-wringing about the future, especially in light of statistics pointing to decline.”

Don’t Do the Devil’s Work for Him. Meanwhile, Jacob Crouch’s article nicely complements Wax’s. “[Satan] is the accuser of the brothers. Sometimes, our petty selfishness and pride cause us to pick up that mantle for ourselves. We feel wronged or mistreated, and instead of taking up our cross, we take up name calling. We begin to accuse our brothers.”

Random Thoughts

One thing I enjoy doing is sharing collections of random thoughts on various subjects. Here’s a roundup of the ones I’ve done so far:

Flashback

AI Makes Me Doubt Everything. AI is all of the world’s facts without any of humanity’s wisdom. It is knowledge without a heart and data without a mind. It is the impassive articulation of ideas processed through a CPU rather than a brain.