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A La Carte (October 20)

tuesday

Today is release day for Jared Wilson’s new novel Echo Island. It’s technically for young adults, but this not-so-young-adult enjoyed it plenty.

Today’s Kindle deals include a number of solid picks.

(Yesterday on the blog: Why We Need a Better Definition of “Conspiracy Theory”)

Is It Hypocrisy to Ask Locals to Be Self-Supporting?

I wonder if you’ve thought about this tension in foreign missions: Missionaries raise support to go overseas, then help locals begin self-supporting ministries. This article explains why it needs to be this way.

Intellectual Disabilities And The Church

This is a helpful article about being a church that welcomes people with intellectual disabilities, and not merely to the fringes of the congregation.

Redeem TV: A new viewer supported Christian streaming platform

Redeem TV is a viewer-supported, ad-free, fee- free streaming service. Our goal is to provide edifying and redemptive visual media content for all ages with library of over 1,500 quality dramas, documentaries, animated features, children’s favorites, episodic series, and small group studies, with new titles added every week. (Sponsored Link)

The Wisdom in Restraining Our Lips

“Patience is a virtue I am continually chipping away at. In a similar way to these ordinary tasks, I’m learning to be slow and patient with my words as well. And I find these two pictures of patience from my husband to be a helpful reminder of what that patience looks like.”

Help! I’m Struggling with the Doctrine of Predestination

Most of us have struggled with the doctrine of predestination at one time or another. This article means to resolve some of the tensions. “Christians might reason, We can’t understand such deep theological questions. Let’s just stick to what the Bible says. Christians need to stop arguing about theology and tell the world about Jesus. Such reasoning leads people to fear predestination and to avoid studying what God’s word says about it.”

Watching What I Invest In Evaporate

“As much as I don’t like it, it turns out that most of what I pour my time and energy into is fleeting, at least on the surface. Laundry? Sure it’s done, only to be done again. A great lesson plan leads to mixed feelings of pride, joy, fun, and a bit of a let down (now I need to start on the next one). Whether you are a foodie or live on peanut butter toast, food and dishes are on going. I’ll hit publish on this post and as I do an internal happy dance, I’ll also be thinking about future posts.”

When A Word First Appeared

Merriam-Webster has a neat “time travel” feature that lets you see which words or terms made their English-language debut through the years. I learned that I was born in the year that gave us bicycle shorts, body piercing, Ebola virus, and pooper-scooper. It wasn’t much of a year that way, was it?

Flashback: Gospel Weariness

Gospel weariness elevates our perspective from our feet to the horizon, from the trials of this world to the hope of the world to come. It stirs within us a holy longing to be done with this life and to enter into the life to come.

It would be well if all who call themselves Christians, should learn that it is not their business to believe and teach what they may think true or right, but what God in his Holy Word has seen fit to reveal.

—Charles Hodge

  • New and Notable

    A Batch of New Books for Kids (and Teens)

    Every month I put together a roundup of new and notable books for grownup readers. But I also receive a lot of books for kids and like to put together the occasional roundup of these books as well. So today I bring you a whole big batch of new books for kids of all ages…

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (April 10)

    A La Carte: God’s wisdom in waiting / Biblical counseling isn’t therapy / “The Sin of Empathy” / The dirtiest one another / Long prayers in worship / What I can control / and more.

  • House of David

    Can Christians Watch “House of David?”

    I did not intend to watch House of David, but when a few people told me they were enjoying it and asked what I thought, I decided to give it a go. But before I discuss House of David, I want to talk about The Chosen.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 9)

    A La Carte: Prove me, try me, test me / Trump’s tariffs / It only gets better / Praise and criticism in worship / The third heaven / The spiritual problem of being overinformed / Kindle and book deals.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 8)

    A La Carte: A teacher unpacks “Adolescence” / Why suffer through fasting? / Wes Huff on the ending of Mark / John Piper on Jesus’ mother / How many hours should a pastor work? / Why I have a burner phone / and more.

  • Cultivating Faith in God’s Garden

    God wants us to experience the teeming abundance of a life devoted to generative gospel community, even if the spiritual greenhouse is flawed and imperfect. #Sponsored