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Weekend A La Carte (August 30)

A La Carte Collection cover image

My gratitude goes to RFPA for sponsoring the blog this week. They wanted to let you know about their brand-new book, Go Into All the World.

Today’s Kindle deals include all kinds of interesting titles that would be worth a look.

(Yesterday on the blog: 10 New and Notable Christian Books for August 2025)

My Mom, Her Drug Addiction, and God’s Grace

This is a moving account of God’s grace in addiction. “In our comfortable age, we often avoid affliction at any cost. But I’ve learned that Christian suffering isn’t without hope and that God often uses our pain to bring about redemption.”

Sometimes, God’s Intervention IS Our Suffering

“When we suffer, we pray for God to intervene. We ask for the Lord to help and to heal, to remove and to restore. But what if our suffering is itself God’s intervention?” Now that’s a good question.

Common Descent or Common Design?

Katie Hulse: “Evolutionists argue that anatomical, physiological, biochemical, and genetic similarities among species (homologies) are best explained by evolution. They don’t think God would have employed such similarities if he had created everything. But perhaps there’s another explanation.” There is, indeed.

Why the Work We Do Matters

“When we stop to consider what it means to work, in every job, calling, or duty, we all need each other and the work done around us. Our world rotates in daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly cycles of work.”

How Short, O Lord?

“I teach college students, so I know the excitement that mid-August can bring. A new school year is full of possibilities. My excitement this year is mixed with sadness.” Ryan explains the source of his bittersweet feelings. I suspect many will identify with them.

Totems Diminish Human Worth and Distract Us From God

This is an interesting one that comes from an African perspective. “Totems are more than symbols. They are central to identity formation, especially in rural African communities where there is less Western influence. Here totemism is still widely adopted and influences how people live.”

Flashback: That Time I Went After an Older, Godlier Man

While there are times we as Christians must speak out, there is never a time we can speak to a fellow Christian or about a fellow Christian in a way that fails to reflect the love of our common Savior.

If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician.

—D.A. Carson

  • A La Carte (June 11)

    We lost the baby / The Bible is cessationist (and wondrous!) / Thinking about Eastern Orthodoxy: a primer for evangelicals / Virtue signalling in the church / What is God’s providence? / Restlessness / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Conform

    You Can Conform to Christ Even if You Don’t Conform to Me

    One of the aspects of the Christian faith that I find particularly perplexing is the freedom God gives his people to obey him in different or even opposite ways, so that one person’s obedience is another person’s disobedience. Even as two people take the same action, one might be obeying him and the other disobeying…

  • A La Carte (June 10)

    Does prayer make a difference? / Portrait of an abortionist / Pushing back against the black tax / Bring your whole self to work / Blessed are the weak / When service isn’t a transaction / A pastoral analogy / Bill C-9 will soon be law in Canada / and more.

  • A La Carte (June 9)

    Thawed embryos, reproductive rights, and the grey marshlands of ethical ennui / 14 World Cup stars who follow Jesus / The God of small churches / How a critical theorist influenced the sexualization of everything / When culture trumps strategy / Fasting and feasting / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Six Counsels for a Sending Church

    Sacrificial obedience to the One who sends is what it will take to reach every language. Join us October 14 to 16 in Dallas–Fort Worth for The Lord Who Sends as we reflect on God’s word and the lives of missionaries who followed the Great Commission.

  • The Two Kinds of Content You Consume

    The Two Kinds of Content You Consume

    At some point we all began to refer to articles and video as content. And today we are drowning in it! Here is a simple filter for telling content created to serve you apart from content created to serve its maker.