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A La Carte (May 6)

thursday

Grace and peace to you today.

Today’s Kindle deals include a nice little list of titles from Crossway, most of which are related to Mother’s Day.

(Yesterday on the blog: We Always Glean Among the Sheaves)

When Mom Forgot Me

“‘Where do you live?’ she asked. Wind whipped her white curls into a crown around her head against a blur of golden wheat fields as we sailed along the dirt road. I glanced her way. She sat slightly hunched in the passenger seat. We’d been catching up while I drove. Two long years had passed. I returned home to a widowed mom, visibly aged and mourning the loss of a husband and father we both loved. ‘She gets confused sometimes,’ my brothers told me.”

The Dull Conversation

Ed Welch reflects on the importance of even dull conversations. “Some conversations are just less interesting than others. The simple facts of a person’s day—the route to work, the morning snack, the spilled coffee—are not interesting unless they reveal something about the person who lived those details.”

How Many Wills Does God Have? (Video)

R.C. Sproul’s answer to this question is really helpful.

We Need the Faith of Noah

“Can you imagine being Noah and seeing that first rain drop? What do you think he felt? Relief? Surprise? Joy? Maybe a mix of all three. Perhaps he felt great sorrow as well, as he realized that the people he so faithfully preached to, for around a hundred years, were about to be crushed by the wrath of God. I think about Noah often.”

When Did You Last Read a Book?

“Reading books matters. If you read books, you need to be able to concentrate on a story or idea for an extended time. You need to think. It is a skill that is in short supply but great demand.”

The Wait of All Waits

So much of life comes down to waiting, doesn’t it? “It seems the theme of my life as of late is ‘wait.’ Wait for answers, for healing, for change, for restoration, for desires and dreams. Wait. Slow down. Not yet. Maybe not ever.”

Flashback: I Have Cursed You

I know well that too much of what I say about others is merely idle and inappropriate, and that my words say far more about me than they do about the other person.

The business of the preacher is to state the truth of God, clearly, fully, simply; the rest the Spirit will take care of. We need not trouble ourselves about the survival of Christianity. God will take care of that.

—Francis Grimké

  • Inventory

    The Spiritual Gift Inventory I Believe In

    In many churches, it is standard practice to have Christians take some kind of a spiritual gift inventory. Through a series of questions that probe an individual’s interests, passions, and successes, these tests claim to help people discover the ways the Holy Spirit has gifted them to better love and serve his people.

  • A La Carte Friday 2

    A La Carte (November 15)

    A La Carte: The archishop’s resignation / A church-wide digital detox / 10 theories of the atonement / have salt in yourselves / The Plimsoll line / Book and Kindle deals / and more.

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (November 14)

    A La Carte: Is Stoicism a friend of Christianity? / 11 Theses on Instagram and the modern woman / The harvest is plentiful but the workers won’t stay / The unpardonable sin / Maybe you should talk to strangers / and more.

  • Marriage Happy Marriage Holy

    Marriage Happy, Marriage Holy

    God’s purpose in marriage is not to make us happy but to make us holy. Or so we have all been told. The truth is more complicated, of course, and I’m quite certain God means for marriage to cover both. The old Anglican liturgy says marriage “was ordained for the mutual society, help, and comfort,…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (November 13)

    A La Carte: Should Christians reject slavery and affirm same-sex marriage? / Can women be deacons? / You can’t life-hack your way to holiness / When your pastor thinks he’s brother molehill / When the seeing are blind / and more.