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A La Carte (September 10)

thursday

Today’s Kindle deals include a couple of good books, one of them suitable for those struggling with pornography (or attempting to help someone who is).

(Yesterday on the blog: Learning To Thrive as a Diverse Church)

Why Unhealthy People Crave Controversy

This is good and important. “Quarrels sometimes come, and sometimes those controversies are what it takes to be faithful to the Spirit. But just as one engaged in sexual immorality can always convince himself that this is a special case of ‘love,’ ‘soulmates,’ or ‘destiny,’ the one with an unhealthy craving for controversy can always convince himself that he’s a warrior for Christ—instead of a captive to his passions.”

How a Massive Bomb Came Together in Beirut’s Port

This is an amazing visualization from the New York Times—and a good bit of journalism to go with it.

Plus Ça Change And Clapped Out Cars

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. So goes the old epigram. The more it changes, the more it stays the same. I was set to thinking about this phrase as I received yet another call from the police about another abandoned car that had dumped on our church car park.”

A Short History of Racism

As this article so aptly shows, racism has a long, ugly, and worldwide history.

The Christian And the State

There are lots of good takeaways from this article by Paul Carter which concerns churches and the pandemic. Including this: “Government regulations differ region to region, province to province and country to country, so every church must wrestle with the correct application of these principles to their particular context…”

When Detours Become Destinations

Sometimes the detour does become the destination…

What Is Time?

Consider how much our lives are governed by time, we probably don’t think much about what time really is…

Flashback: The Folly Bound Up in the Heart of a Child

The beautiful jewel of salvation highlights the deep darkness of sin. Our children’s holiness reveals just how foolish they were, it displays how badly they needed to be saved, and it proves the great power of God’s salvation.

Anger is against God because he is the one who directs the details of our lives. In fact, in our anger and outrage, we have decided that we want to be God rather than submit to him.

—Ed Welch

  • Invisible Grief

    Invisible Grief

    There is no path through this life that does not involve at least some measure of grief. This world is so broken that at different times and in different ways, grief affects us all. Some grief flows from what we loved and lost but other grief flows from what has never been and may never…

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  • Cliff

    Tiptoeing to the Edge of Cliffs

    Not too long ago, there was a trend in which people would see how close they could come to being hit by a train without actually being hit by a train. That’s about as stupid a game as I can imagine. Play stupid games, win stupid games, as the kids say. But researching sin when…

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