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A La Carte (December 19)

Today’s Kindle deals include a tremendous list from Crossway (including titles by John Piper, Bruce Ware, and others) as well as a good selection from other publishers.

5 Reasons To Read The Bible When You Feel Absolutely Nothing

We’ve all had experiences like this, right? “Did anything really ‘happen’ during my reading? Did the Bible make any difference? Why should I even continue when it just feels like I’m going through the motions?”

Why Don’t Woodpeckers Get Concussions (Video)?

They bash their heads against trees at high speeds all day long. Yet they don’t get concussions. How’s that possible?

A Day in God’s House in the 1850s

Here’s a fascinating first-person account of a typical Lord’s Day in the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, Indiana in the 1850s.

3 Reminders for Christian Dating

Here are 3 simple reminders about dating well.

If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel

This is a tediously accurate but amazing scale model of the solar system.

This Day in 1950. 66 years ago today Southern Baptist missionary Bill Wallace was taken from his home in China and imprisoned on phony charges. He spent his final days witnessing to anyone who passed his cell before being murdered by guards. *

Putting Christmas Back in Christ

This is a good one: “Christmas wasn’t mandated by God; it’s a relic of our culture. To whatever extent it can be helpful to us in our walk with Christ without dominating us, let’s embrace it.”

The American Leader in the Islamic State

Up for a longform read? Here’s a sad, strange one about an American leader within the Islamic State. “John Georgelas was a military brat, a drug enthusiast, a precocious underachiever born in Texas. Now he is a prominent figure within the Islamic State. Here’s the never-before-reported story of his long and troubling journey.”

Is It Sinful to Be Pregnant Before Marriage?

John Piper answers this one.

Flashback: The Gossip Rag of the Reformed World

What if I rebrand this site Reformed People and make it the gossip rag, the tabloid, of the Reformed world? This much is true: I would never run out of people to discuss and evaluate.

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Sinners are at war with God, and, worse, God is at war with sinners. But He offers term of peace in the blood of the cross.

—Steve Lawson

  • My Top Songs of 2024

    My 10 Favorite New Songs of 2024

    I have wide-ranging tastes in music and will gladly listen to all kinds of different genres. I recently spent some time considering some of the new songs I enjoyed in 2024 and, focusing on songs by Christian artists, eventually narrowed my favorites down to this list of 10—my 10 favorite new songs of 2024. I’ve…

  • A La Carte Friday 2

    A La Carte (December 20)

    A La Carte: From transgender to Christian / Forgive us our debts / Did the Son of God leave heaven to come to earth? / 9 ways to help those who are suffering / Does this prove Mary wasn’t a virgin? / and more.

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (December 19)

    A La Carte: The astronaut who left NASA to support healthy churches / The cradle that rocked the world / Are Catholics Christian? / Why we need beautiful churches / On stumbling / and more.

  • 2025

    12 Fresh Ways to Read Your Bible in 2025

    A new year offers a new opportunity—an opportunity to rethink and refresh the way you read your Bible. While some have found a pattern or habit they love and will never deviate from, others like to look for new ways to read, digest, and apply the Word. For those who may be interested in trying…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (December 18)

    A La Carte: Grief and gratitude at Christmas / Navigating unwanted singleness / What the demons sang / Teach your teen about Christian freedom / Common interests / and more.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (December 17)

    A La Carte: The Virgin Mary and modern therapeutic culture / Relational heresy and doctrinal heresy / The darkness does not win / How does God deliver from pain by pain? / Christmas with your adult children / and more.