Skip to content ↓

A La Carte (May 6)

thursday

Grace and peace to you today.

Today’s Kindle deals include a nice little list of titles from Crossway, most of which are related to Mother’s Day.

(Yesterday on the blog: We Always Glean Among the Sheaves)

When Mom Forgot Me

“‘Where do you live?’ she asked. Wind whipped her white curls into a crown around her head against a blur of golden wheat fields as we sailed along the dirt road. I glanced her way. She sat slightly hunched in the passenger seat. We’d been catching up while I drove. Two long years had passed. I returned home to a widowed mom, visibly aged and mourning the loss of a husband and father we both loved. ‘She gets confused sometimes,’ my brothers told me.”

The Dull Conversation

Ed Welch reflects on the importance of even dull conversations. “Some conversations are just less interesting than others. The simple facts of a person’s day—the route to work, the morning snack, the spilled coffee—are not interesting unless they reveal something about the person who lived those details.”

How Many Wills Does God Have? (Video)

R.C. Sproul’s answer to this question is really helpful.

We Need the Faith of Noah

“Can you imagine being Noah and seeing that first rain drop? What do you think he felt? Relief? Surprise? Joy? Maybe a mix of all three. Perhaps he felt great sorrow as well, as he realized that the people he so faithfully preached to, for around a hundred years, were about to be crushed by the wrath of God. I think about Noah often.”

When Did You Last Read a Book?

“Reading books matters. If you read books, you need to be able to concentrate on a story or idea for an extended time. You need to think. It is a skill that is in short supply but great demand.”

The Wait of All Waits

So much of life comes down to waiting, doesn’t it? “It seems the theme of my life as of late is ‘wait.’ Wait for answers, for healing, for change, for restoration, for desires and dreams. Wait. Slow down. Not yet. Maybe not ever.”

Flashback: I Have Cursed You

I know well that too much of what I say about others is merely idle and inappropriate, and that my words say far more about me than they do about the other person.

The business of the preacher is to state the truth of God, clearly, fully, simply; the rest the Spirit will take care of. We need not trouble ourselves about the survival of Christianity. God will take care of that.

—Francis Grimké

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 22)

    Aspire to be lay elders / A mundane life is a courageous life / Aim high, repent often / The problem with deaconism / What are you angry about today? / An original poem / Kindle deals / and more.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 21)

    The cage stage in the digital age / When did Christian music all become worship music? / Why AI worship feels empty / Grace through discipline / The messy, glorious church / Trivia / and more.

  • Church Camera

    Preaching for the Viral Video

    Is it possible to preach faithfully to a congregation while also preaching for the viral clip? This article explores the incompatibility of social-media-first preaching with genuine pastoral ministry.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 20)

    Fatherhood and Rubik’s Cube / I never felt like reading the Bible / Disobeying authorities / The case against social media / Don’t get singled out / GIRLS® / Getting rid of YouTube shorts.