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Inordinate Desires
Between Two Worlds linked to a great David Powlison article and I encourage you to check it out: Desire 101: Putting First Things First Just listen to a few of the questions that are asked (and answered): – How can you tell if a desire is inordinate rather than natural? – Doesn’t the word lusts properly apply only to bodily appetites: the pleasures and comforts of sex, food, drink, rest, exercise, health? – Can desires be habitual? – What about fears? They seem as important in human motivation as cravings. – In counseling, do you just confront a person with his sinful cravings? – Can you change what you…
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Guidance & The Will of God
Lots of good recommendations and links over at IX Marks: God’s Will and Guidance
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Free to Laugh at Myself
I was chatting with my best friend Samara quite a bit this week. It was her birthday, so that gave me lots of excuses to call. Plus, the PCA church plant that they participate in has been prayerfully looking for a location to host them and I wanted to know an update on how things are progressing and how we can continue to pray. Plus, of course, I just LOVE to chat with Samara at any time about any thing because she is such an interesting and fun friend. In our call today she totally had me roaring with laughter at myself as she asked how I was feeling about…
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Motherboard Kaputskie?
I’m no technological whiz or anything … But when “the shop” that has had your laptop for OVER A MONTH talks about replacing the motherboard (on top of the other, you know, three SIMPLE things that were supposed to be fixed initially that THEN became five more because they apparently installed the new CD/DVD drive incorrectly and the whole thing overheated, blah blah blah) … Am I right in assuming that a) I am NEVER going to get my laptop back; and b) even if I do, it’s just not going to work very well? Hmmmmm … Oh well, there are a lot worse things in life, right? I just…
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How to Be Sure Your Small Group Ministry will Fail
TakeYourVitaminZ linked over to an interesting article by Craig Groeschel entitled, “How to Be Sure Your Small Group Ministry will Fail“. I cringed and laughed and resolved to talk about them with Fred as we continue to (strive to) lead our small group well. Consider just a few: Make sure the senior pastor isn’t in a group. If small groups aren’t modeled by the pastor, they won’t have much of a chance for success. Make sure the senior pastor doesn’t talk about small groups. If small groups don’t ever find their way into a sermon, it will help reduce the likelihood of success. Make sure small groups are not staffed…
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Goodnight friends!
I hope your Wednesday was a blessed one– Mine was full. It is late. I still am not sleeping well (Monday night I slept from 4-5AM and that was IT!) and I’m WIPED. So without any links or pithy sayings or even any reflections on the highs and lows of my day– I wish you goodnight! And hope to be back serving you a little better tomorrow. Your tired, slightly grumpy for no reason at all, AND simultaneously grateful friend, (am I WEIRD or what?!) – Tara B.
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Hudson Landing
This has been on so many blogs lately, I have no idea who to credit–but I finally took the two minutes to watch it. Definitely worth the time.
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Ten Questions to Ask After a Conference/Event
I’m working hard on my teachings for next week (thanks again for the prayers and encouragement!), but took a quick break to get some food and check in on some blogs. Tim Challies had a bunch of links worth checking out today, but one in particular seemed apropos to my current task at hand: Ten Questions to Ask to Benefit from a Conference or Special Event (by Don Whitney) How I pray that my tiny offerings of these workshops and this plenary address will be God-glorifying, edifying, and helpful/encouraging even in some small way. Hope your Tuesday is going well! Yours, Tara B.
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An Opinionated Play-by-Play of the Plantinga-Dennett Exchange
Between Two Worlds recently posted a link to someone’s live blog of “the spirited exchange on February 21 between Alvin Plantinga and Daniel Dennett–two premier philosophers on opposite sides of the spectrum on naturalism–at the Central Division of the American Philosophical Association.” If you like to read theology, philosophy, and especially the philosophy OF theology, you’ll enjoy this exchange quite a bit: An Opinionated Play-by-Play of the Plantinga-Dennett Exchange I’m more familiar with Alvin’s (brilliant) brother Cornelius Plantinga, but I sure would love to read more in this topical area. BTW–If you’re interested in a VERY readable book that analyzes naturalism, the first one I ever read was by…
