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A La Carte (October 8)

thursday

We are gearing up for Thanksgiving weekend up here in Canada. The days are getting short, the weather is getting cold—it’s pretty much my favorite time of year.

There are just a few minor Kindle deals to look at today.

(Yesterday on the blog: Discovering a World of Surplus Beauty)

Parents, the Little Moments Matter Most

They do, indeed! “I have been in the parenting game for quite a few years now. I’ve been bombarded by guilt-inducing articles, by books filled with tips and secrets for raising children. I’ve been told all of the many ways that I can mess this whole endeavor up, and I’ve been punched in the gut more than once by someone’s idea of what this job should look like. But yesterday I stood by a pink casket and heard one of the most encouraging bits of parenting advice I’ve ever received.”

The Cure for Celebrity Christian Culture: Faithfulness over Fame

You may appreciate Randy Alcorn’s thoughts on the cure for celebrity Christian culture.

Two Free Reformation Resources

Martin Luther is one of the most significant figures in church history. The movement that started after his posting of the Ninety-Five Theses led to the recovery of the gospel. How did this happen? How did God use a monk with an uneasy conscience to set the world ablaze? To celebrate this Saturday’s launch of their new podcast, Luther: In Real Time, Ligonier Ministries is offering two free Reformation resources that can help you get to know Luther’s life, teaching, and enduring influence: R.C. Sproul’s video teaching series Luther and the Reformation plus the ebook The Legacy of Luther, edited by R.C. Sproul and Stephen Nichols. You can download these resources for free. (Sponsored)

God and Government

Kevin DeYoung has a helpful article on the relationship of God and government.

Autumn and the Beauty of Death for the Christian

“We are currently easing into leaf season. There are bright bursts of brilliant crimson and orange on certain trees, but there is still plenty of green foliage that will have the chlorophyll leaving soon. Many leaves, however, are already floating to the ground. When a leaf falls to the ground, it is dead. The beauty of fall foliage is death.”

The Often-Forgotten Story of TULIP

Scott Hubbard shares the often-forgotten story behind a popular acronym. “If the word Calvinism means anything to you, then the acronym TULIP likely has been planted in your theological vocabulary. You have become familiar with — perhaps even a champion of — total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints. Yet for many of us, the origin of this TULIP remains unknown.”

Anger, Panic, And The Psalms

“The world is a scary mess right now. There’s an overstock currently on reasons to feel panic and anger, and most of them are out of our control. If we let them, these feelings have the power to eat us from the inside out. But it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Flashback: The Cost of Surrounding Yourself with Negative People

According to the principles of positive thinking, our thoughts are the power that change and shape the world around us. To get ahead in life we need to get rid of anyone who holds us back. I am convinced this principle is abhorrent and will offer three reasons why.

Evangelism is the major instrument of social change. For the gospel changes people, and changed people can change society.

—John Stott

  • 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.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    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…