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A La Carte (July 29)

thursday

Good morning. May the Lord bless and keep you today.

Logos users may want to check out the new deal on books by Zondervan. Many great resources are deeply discounted.

Today’s Kindle deals include lots of good books from Crossway, most of them geared to teens and young adults.

(Yesterday on the blog: Settlers in the Land of Love)

Samuel James shares a not-so-hypothetical short story.

When I Lived In A Barn

Seth Lewis includes a couple of great insights in this short article. “Beautiful things can’t make souls more beautiful. And valuable things can’t make people more valuable.”

Respecting Gas Station Attendants and The Importance of Toilet Shoes

I know I’ve said it before, but cross-cultural insights like these fascinate me. “I’ve been spending a lot of time this summer with *Darius, one of the faithful local men who is a part of our church plant. Darius has a wonderful gifting – that of a person who is becoming truly bicultural. People like him are able to function well in two or more very different cultural settings without rejecting either culture. They make great students if their teacher is, like me, from another culture. They also make wonderful teachers themselves, since they still deeply value their home culture and are willing to explain it.”

Should I Go on Mission?

Stephen Kneale has some simple guidance for people considering a short-term mission trip.

Distracting Ourselves to Death

“We all tend to do this. Whether we search on our phones, in our careers, or in our family life, we seem to be looking for something. It is as if an eternal ache has been implanted in our hearts.”

Teachable

“I spend most of my time teaching, but if there was one thing I wish I could teach people, it’s ‘teachability’! Teachability is a precious quality, that’s hard to cultivate. It’s like a large, highly absorbent sponge that soaks up all the water around it. It’s a spirit of learning, that is alert, keen, and hungry for the truth.”

Flashback: How To Respond to Social Media Enemies

Jesus tells you how to relate to people who harm you or who want to harm you, and his instructions provide crucial guidance as you relate to online enemies. He gives you a collection of verbs, a collection of actions to take: Love, do, bless, pray. Their verbs are hate, curse, and abuse; yours are love, do, bless, pray.

The sum and substance of the preparation needed for a coming eternity is that you believe what the Bible tells you, and do what the Bible bids you.

—Thomas Chalmers

  • Let the Lord Choose

    Let the Lord Choose

    Though we are limited beings with little knowledge, we are proud beings with little humility. When Jesus taught us to pray, he taught us to bring our petitions before the Lord, to bring to him all our cares, all our burdens, all our sorrows. We can and should plead our case before the Lord, for…

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    New and Notable Christian Books for March 2025

    As you know, I like to do my best to sort through the new Christian books that are released each month to see what stands out as being not only new but also particularly notable. I received quite a number of new books in March and narrowed the list down to the ones below. I…

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    A La Carte: Christians and IVF / And all the people said [mumble] / How your entertainment shapes you / How to preach in 20 challenging steps / Church conflict / Kindle and Logos deals / and more.

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    A La Carte (March 27)

    A La Carte: When the paychecks stop / What does Jesus want me to do? / A messy house / Beast Games / The rise of Nietzschean Christianity / Stop and marvel / and more.