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Weekend A La Carte (April 20)

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My thanks goes to ChurchSocial for sponsoring the blog this week. Church Social gives congregations a safe place to communicate, share information, and manage membership online.

There are a few new Kindle deals to close out the week. There’s also a short list of interesting general market deals that are one-day-only.

(Yesterday on the blog: The Great Rewiring of Childhood)

Rome Is Not Our Home: Live Counterculturally During Election Season

This article offers some helpful perspectives on living as Christians during politically-charged times.

Borrowing a Death

“When was the last time you were at a funeral when someone didn’t take the opportunity to talk about their own life when eulogizing the person who has died? We all do it. It’s nearly impossible not to.” In this sense, Glenna says, it’s often wise to “borrow” a death.

The Many Ministries of Godly Women

Keri Folmar describes and celebrates the many ministries of godly women.

When We Lose Loved Ones and Have Regrets

Nick Batzig says “We don’t have to be weighed down with perpetual regrets for not having loved believers as we ought to have loved them here and now.” This is a very freeing thought.

Should Ethnicity and Race Never Cross Our Minds When We Meet Another Believer?

Randy Alcorn asks and answers the “color blindness” question.

The Case for Children’s Worship Services

You don’t have to agree with everything an article says to benefit from it. And that was the case for me with this one (though I am generally in favor of offering some programming for at least the youngest children during services).

Flashback: Simon, Would You Still Have Passed That Way?

“I would still have passed that way even if I had known I would be mistreated, for by sharing his burden I became the first to share in his sufferings.”

There are two little rules which, if we would observe them, would work a marvelous change in most of our lives. One is, “Never be discouraged.” The other is, “Never be a discourager.”

—J.R. Miller

  • 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…

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    A La Carte (April 28)

    A La Carte: Protestantism’s Catholic converts / How healthy is your pursuit of health? / God’s special calling on your life / Considering a Christian university? / Testing the teachings of Catholicism / Kindle deals / and more.

  • New and Notable

    New and Notable Christian Books for April 2025

    It is surprisingly difficult to find a list of Christian books that have been released in any given month—especially if you want that list to be filtered by books released through particular publishers. That’s one of the reasons why I close each month by coming up with my list of New and Notable books. I…

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    Weekend A La Carte (April 26)

    A La Carte: Every pinch of pain has purpose / China closed Christian bookstores / Watch for the thing after the thing / For everything there is a time / Showers of blessing / What Pope Francis can teach us about preaching / and more.

  • What Makes You Beautiful

    What Makes You Beautiful

    I have often thought of a conversation that took place when my girls were little. Abby was perhaps 5 or 6 at the time and Michaela just working her way through the “terrible twos” (which for our kids always happened when they were three or four). A stranger saw me interacting with them one day…