• Hope in Suffering

    You Will Call – I Will Answer

    HT to Les & Bobbie for sending me this interview with a Harvard law professor who has lived with extraordinary pain and now is facing relatively imminent death from cancer (he will probably not live through 2010). It is worth the read: You Will Call, I Will Answer He has another edifying article over at Christianity Today:   Three Gifts for Hard Times (Come to think of it, I bet this gentleman has a bunch of articles worth reading.)  

  • Uncategorized

    Free Picaboo Book (HT: MommyLife)

    If you’ve ever wanted to try electronic “scrapbooking” (please excuse me if you’re a REAL scrapbooker and thus, that term is offensive/annoying to you) … now is the time! Mommylife.net just posted a coupon for a FREE BOOK! Just like you can’t get any more powerless than DEAD (ahhhhh, the doctrine of total depravity is not just an interesting idea) … you can’t get better than FREE when it comes to trying something new in the “I’d like to make something that captures our family’s year but I don’t have weeks and weeks of time or zillions of dollars PLUS I’m just not crafty so I’m never going to cut…

  • Redeeming Church Conflicts

    Crisis vs. Important

    I’m not a huge fan of the “fruit” analogy, but the substance of this post by Deepak Reju over at IX Marks is worth reading: Picking Fruit Off a Tree In it, he talks about investing in future church leaders—rather than allowing your day to be filled with the “urgent” and the “crises” of church life. Specifically: “One of the ideas I’ve learned on our staff is to be strategic about the men I disciple and invest in. One of our staff pastors has often talked about being deliberate in investing in low-hanging fruit—men who show a lot of potential, who demonstrate a teachable heart and desire to grow, and…

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Emily Dickinson on Friendship

    Some days, you just need a little dose of Emily Dickinson, don’t you think? “True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island … to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.” “A friend is someone, who upon seeing another friend in immense pain, would rather be the one experiencing the pain than to have to watch their friend suffer.”   “Ultimately the bond of all companionship, wheather in marriage or in friendship, is conversation.”  

  • Redeeming Church Conflicts

    Gospel in Life

    This new resource from Tim Keller sure sounds like a great way to invest $32 and your time, too. (Maybe a good fit for our women’s study this summer? Hmmmmm …) Gospel  in Life (An an intensive eight session course on the gospel and how it is lived out in all of life—first in your heart, then in your community, and then out into the world.)  

  • Hope in Suffering

    Not Death to Die

    Tim Challies pointed me to a number of worthwhile links this morning. The first one is hard to watch, but so worth it—especially if you are suffering or know someone who is suffering. There are two video clips from a pastor and his wife whose fourteen year-old daughter was murdered. It is neither trite nor man-centered. It is real and raw—and it meaningfully points to Christ. The parents also share profoundly about forgiveness. I highly recommend that you take the time to watch: It is Not Death to Die The second was quite convicting re: my own spiritual disciplines. Oh! How I can picture myself spending hours and hours reading…