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A La Carte (December 30)

thursday

Good morning. Grace and peace to you today.

Just a reminder that I’m on a holiday blogging schedule this week which means I’m posting only the daily A La Carte. Articles will return next week.

9 Things You Should Know About Events and Discoveries in 2021

This is a fun little roundup. “We live in an era of 24-hour news in which we’re constantly bombarded by information from websites, social media, and television. Yet despite this deluge, there are many fascinating news items you are likely to have missed. Here are nine such events and discoveries from 2021 that you may not have heard about.”

What People are Saying about 2022

“Have you noticed what people are saying about 2022? Me neither.” Is that better or worse than what people were saying this time last year?

What Was Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh?

Here’s an explanation of that mysterious thorn in the flesh that was so agonizing to Paul.

Are You Feeling In-Between?

“The last week of December always feels a little like an in-between to me. It’s between holidays, months and years. Akin to adolescent years, somewhere between child and teenager, life has a lot of uncomfortable in-betweens…”

More Now Than Ever

This is the final part of a series meant to encourage Christians by reflecting on positive cultural trends.

Flashback: Strength = Good, Weakness = Bad

Jesus was weak. Paul rejoiced in his own weakness. And yet we are still afraid and ashamed to be weak. We would rather feign strength than admit weakness.

The eye is made both for seeing and weeping. Sin must first be seen, before it can be wept for.

—Thomas Watson

  • Throw Out the Buoys

    Throw Out the Buoys!

    When I was young, my family owned a cottage on a lake. From a young age, I loved to head out in our little motorboat so I could explore that lake and the others that were connected to it. I could easily make a day out of slipping into little inlets to see where they…

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    A La Carte (January 29)

    A La Carte: Your phone habits / A guide for single women / JFK, conspiracy theories, and the Deep State / So what if you’re bored? / God’s a writer / Hard relationships / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Happy Lies

    Happy Lies

    I’m quite certain you have heard of the New Age movement. Though its popularity seems to have crested and begun to wane some time ago, it continues to wield a good bit of influence. But I wonder if you’ve heard of another similarly-named but quite different movement called New Thought.

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    A La Carte (January 28)

    A La Carte: Parenting is hard / The wildness of orthodoxy / Rubbing shoulders throughout eternity / Glorifying ourselves / The middle of somewhere / Is Roman Catholic baptism valid? / Excellent Kindle deals / and more.

  • Who Am I?

    It is not simply that we as a culture have lost our knowledge of God, but that in so doing we have also lost sight of ourselves. “Who am I?” is the question of the age.

  • Church cemetery

    If I Could Change Anything about the Modern Church

    I have often been asked what I consider the greatest weakness of today’s church or what I would change about today’s church if I could. Such questions make for good discussion at a conference Q&A session but they are also pretty much impossible to answer in a compelling way. It’s not like any of us…