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A La Carte (October 23)

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Audible (Amazon’s audiobook service) is offering a holiday special where your first three months are just $0.99 per month. In that time you’ll be able to download, listen to, and keep 3 audiobooks of your choice from their massive catalog. Set a reminder on your phone for 3 months from now and then decide if you’d like to keep or cancel the service. (You are eligible for the deal if you have not had an Audible membership in the past 365 days.)

Today’s Kindle deals include You Are Still a Mother which is a beautiful and comforting book for those who are grieving stillbirth or miscarriage. There are other good options as well.

How to Write a Meaningful Card

Douglas Groothuis offers some simple but helpful advice on writing a meaningful card. “Writing cards is a way to re-humanize a de-humanized culture. Too much is too automatic and impersonal. When you pen (and I mean pen) a card, it bears the mark of your handwriting, your choice of ink and pen. A human—you—emerges from the thick lagoon of the pre-set, the template, the standard, the algorithm.”

God Brings Us Bad to Give Us Best

Joni Eareckson Tada explains how God brings us bad in order to give us best. “When God lobs a hand grenade into life and rattles our faith to the core, we wonder how he’ll work the pieces of shrapnel together for our good. What does good mean, anyway?”

Free eBook: The Legacy of Luther

More than 500 years ago, Martin Luther effectively sparked the Protestant Reformation by posting his Ninety-Five Theses. How did an obscure Augustinian monk become the man God would use to set the world ablaze? Today, Ligonier Ministries is offering a free download of the ebook The Legacy of Luther, edited by R.C. Sproul and Stephen Nichols. Add this volume to your digital library and explore Luther’s life, teaching, and enduring influence. (Sponsored)

New Notebook, Same Mission

I enjoyed Ed’s explanation of the difference notebooks have made to his faith. “It’s my way of extracting the most value from each sermon. For me, listening and note-taking go hand in hand. And when I review, highlight and summarize, my understanding and retention skyrocket.”

There but for the Grace of God Go I

“Imagine if Timothy had responded to Paul’s exhortation saying that he may or may not shipwreck his faith, depending on what the grace of God had in store for him. Yet we do speak this way in the wake of church scandals, and appear humble. But the renouncing of personal agency among Christian men regarding sexual sin is no virtue; it is cowardice.”

The Trouble With Competitiveness

Cindy Matson: “I’d rather not write this article. Anyone who knows me knows that competitiveness lodges deep within my bones. I want to come out on top whether playing tic-tac-toe, four-square, taking a test, or parenting my kids. I size up the competition and track the most likely path to victory. Of course, I don’t always win. I lose. A lot. But that doesn’t mean I like it.”

It Was Never Just ‘Thoughts and Prayers’

I enjoyed reading this one. “Whether there is media coverage of natural disasters or not, regardless of the scale, you will find faithful Southern Baptist volunteers hailing from 45,000 churches around the United States donning yellow shirts and mobilizing to the affected area. With the two Hurricanes, Milton and Helene, the SBC has thousands of men and women on the ground in western North Carolina, Georgia, east Tennessee, and Florida.”

Flashback: God Gave Me Three Children (and Three Friends)

I would need to dedicate time to training and discipling them but also to just enjoying them. I would, essentially, need to woo and win my own children, to prove myself a worthy, valuable friend.

Having a gospel zeal means we’re about our Father’s business—sharing the gospel in word and deed, and caring for the least, the last, and the lost.

—J. A. Medders and Doug Logan Jr.

  • Carney Trump

    How Donald Trump Upended Canadian Politics and Helped the Liberals Win

    On April 28, Canadians elected the Liberal Party of Canada to a fourth consecutive term. This is a rare feat for a political party in Canada and in this case, one of special significance, for just months ago, the Liberals seemed destined for near-complete destruction. The cost of living was spiking, the quality of life…

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    A La Carte (April 30)

    A La Carte: Young men wanted / The glory and danger of apologetics / God’s guidelines for sex aren’t arbitrary / How much is our church worth? / People loved the darkness / and more.

  • Erics Greatest Race

    Releasing Today: Eric’s Greatest Race

    My new book releases today! Eric’s Greatest Race is a fully illustrated graphic novel that tells young readers the story of Eric Liddell, the famous Olympian whose steadfast courage and commitment to Christ has inspired generations of believers. It is my sincere hope that it will introduce a whole new generation to a man whose…

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    A La Carte (April 29)

    A La Carte: Has the decline of U.S. Christianity finally stopped? / Holding space for joy and sorrow / No one ever hated his own body / Wisdom principles for Christian parenting / The article you don’t want to read / A new book / Kindle deals / and more.

  • The Pursuit of Virtue

    God’s character is the essence of virtue. The heart of virtue is to know the Lord and to become like him, as a child resembles her father. That is the goal, privilege, and destiny of the redeemed. #Sponsored

  • When God Plants an Acorn

    When God Plants an Acorn, He Means an Oak

    We stood together on the crest of a hill, a gentle breeze rustling the meadow around our feet. The fields ran gently downward until they met a creek that gurgled happily in its course. A few years prior, an acorn had somehow made its way to the highest point of this hill, carelessly dropped there…