Skip to content ↓

A La Carte (June 17)

monday

There are just a few Kindle deals today, but they are some good ones, at least.

(Yesterday on the blog: How We Worshipped One Sunday in June)

Dad Jokes Never Go Out of Style

I can’t even tell how much I enjoy making my daughters roll their eyes through a great (which is to say, terrible) dad joke. “The first recorded use of the term can be found in a 1987 Gettysburg Times column by Jim Kalbaugh. On Father’s Day of that year, Kalbaugh not only introduced ‘dad joke’ to the public, but he also made an impassioned plea to keep the genre alive: ‘As we approach Father’s Day, I would like to propose that ‘Dad’ Jokes not be banned. They should be revered, preserved.’”

Blessing When Cursed

Carl Trueman offers his take on a much-discussed controversy. “A Church that has proved incapable of persuading most of its baptized membership (and even members of its own hierarchy) to take its Catechism seriously is scarcely on the brink of a theocratic coup.” But, lest we Protestants get cocky, “And Protestantism is no better…”

Stop Loving Your Spouse Too Much

Of course you can’t actually love your spouse too much. But you can definitely love the Lord too little and love your spouse wrongly. “Every marriage is either Christian or idolatrous. And two married Christians can be idolatrous, without even realizing it.”

The Bing of Maps

Here’s why Apple Maps is to mapping as Bing is to searching. “Seven years ago, Apple decided that it’d had enough of using Google’s mapping data. They realized that maps and mapping services were so strategic that they couldn’t really afford to depend on a smartphone rival. So, they began building their own, and in September 2012, the company launched Apple Maps. And if I am being honest, the program has always been akin to that baby face that only a mother can love.”

What Did I Ever Do to Deserve This Blue Passport?

It is good to consider the undeserved privileges God has given us. “We’ll get to the airport in Los Angeles with our bleary eyes and disheveled clothes because 20 hours of travel feels like eternity. But we’ll show our blue passports and no one will blink an eye. No one will ask me questions. No walls will block my way. My children won’t be separated from me. I can hear the immigration officer’s nonchalant stamp in our passports. And we’re in.”

The New Dating Requirement: Consuming All of Your Partner’s Content

There’s a little bit of bad language in this one, but it’s an interesting (and I’d say important) look at some new norms of dating and romance. “It’s now understood by many couples that, to be a truly engaged partner, you need to regularly consume your partner’s content, and most importantly, watch their Stories. As Alana Levinson wrote in Splinter, ‘A love interest consuming your content is now as perfunctory as opening a door for a woman once was.’”

You Had One Job

Anne Kennedy on the task of the preacher: “If you don’t know, don’t guess. Study a little harder until you do know. Because it’s not your book. It doesn’t belong to you and it isn’t about you. It is about a God who holds the human creature in the catastrophic place between holiness and love, who ‘probably’ ought to destroy the human creature for his rebellious and filthy evil, and yet who comes down off of the throne and stands in the place of that weak, ridiculous creature, taking on to himself the full weight, the full consequences of that creature’s failure to obey, and worse yet, refusal to worship the Creator, the Source, the fountainhead of goodness.”

Flashback: Setting Up My Kids for Salvation

I trust God with my soul, but for some reason have a much tougher time trusting him with the souls of my kids. I wonder if you can identify with the struggle.

We’re not growing in love when we have time for projects but not for people.

—Donald Whitney

  • 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…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (March 29)

    A La Carte: Does God withdraw his presence? / Celebrating the Lord’s Supper / Difficult, emotionally-overwhelming seasons / Wisdom for difficult conversations / Why four gospels? / Sales and deals / and more.

  • New and Notable

    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…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 28)

    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.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    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.