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Tim Keller, John Piper, and D.A. Carson (HT: Adrian Warnock)
Great, great stuff over at Adrian Warnock’s blog today. In particular don’t miss his links to six conversations among Tim Keller, John Piper, and D.A. Carson: Eight Reasons to Use Facebook And to file away for future use, he posted a link to Everything Jonathan Edwards Ever Wrote (Available for Free Online). Enjoy!
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Beyond Generous
Late last night I emailed a friend to ask him a favor on behalf of our family. It’s always a little hard, isn’t it, to make yourself vulnerable and share of a need you have? I mean, we would have totally understood if this man had said, “Sorry. Can’t help you.” No problem. But it would’ve had a teeny-tiny element of, “Oh WHY did we ask?!?-ness” to it, if you know what I mean. But by this morning, he had already written back with not only an, “Of course I’d love to help!” but also an insistence on (tremendously!) blessing us even MORE as a “condition” of helping. Such a…
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This Post Made Me Laugh (HT: IX Marks)
For whatever reason, this post over at IX Marks really made me laugh this morning: What I’ve Been Doing During Mark’s Sabbatical May favorite quote was: “When people in our congregation move away and ask for advice on finding a church, I always tell them ‘There’s a fine line between Reformed and crazy'”.
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Still Having Fun in Mexico …
Sandcastles & fun at “Dolphin Discovery” (dolphin pics to come later): Beating Kali & Fred at tic-tac-chess: Writing thank you notes & I love you notes & planning our to-do list for the next day: (“Wake up.” “Eat breakfast.” “Play at the beach.” “Play Uno.” “Play Charades.” “Cuddle” Yeah … this kid has a rough life, eh?) Merry Christmas from the sun-soaked Barthels! Love, Tara B.
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Text Patterns
Thanks, Between Two Worlds, for introducing us to Dr. Alan Jacobs’ new blog: Text Patterns I’m looking forward to reading it. This excerpt is taken from his inaugural post: “I’m a fifty-year-old professor of English and therefore, as you might suspect, a lifelong reader. Books and magazines have been near the core of my identity since I learned to read at age three. I love the printed word and think that it embodies a set of technologies whose virtues can’t be replaced by other media. But I also have a deep interest in and attachment to the online world; I tend to get pretty excited about what I can…
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Good Advice if You Are Discouraged
Although this IX Marks entry is particularly directed at pastors, I thought it was spot-on for lay people too: Any Discouraged Pastors Out There? If you or someone you love is struggling at sad this holiday season, I encourage you to pop on over and read it. It’s very short–but very wise. My favorite line was: “Believe it or not, there is more to life than the situation that has you discouraged.” I just don’t think that a person who never struggles with discouragement or depression would’ve written that line. So thanks, Elder Matt Schmucker! And much love to you, dear blog readers– Yours, Tara B.
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Advent for “Poor and Imperfect” People
Jill Carattini’s recent devotional, “Far Away from Home,” quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer at length and it was so rich with the gospel that I wanted to share it with you here: “In a Christmas sermon given December 2, 1928, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, ‘The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, who look forward to something greater to come. For these, it is enough to wait in humble fear until the Holy One himself comes down to us, God in the child in the manger. God comes. The Lord Jesus comes. Christmas comes. Christians rejoice!’ ‘When once again…
