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Consider Becoming a Friend of Tim Challies’ Blog!
Tim Challies has a great offer up at his blog: Become a Friend of The Blog For $39 you get a TON of great resources immediately, the chance to win a Kindle, and I’m sure more great offers will come soon too. I was going to buy the Tim Keller DVD series anyway, so that alone practically pays for the subscription. Well done, Challies.com! Hope you all enjoy— Yours, Tara B. PS This is the list of current goodies: – A $10 gift certificate from Westminster Books – A $20 gift certificate from ChristianAudio (for the first 250 Friends only so don’t dawdle! They will go fast.) – You choose…
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That the Glory of God Would be Shown
A beautiful read over at Wrestling with an Angel: A Birthday Letter to My Son And a frighteningly must read by Jared Wilson re: p*rn consumption in hotels when Christian conventions are in town: Your Private Life Gives Public Witness If you enjoy theology, you’ll enjoy this lovely regular post from Rebecca Writes (this is a link to her category archive): Theological Term of the Week And hooray! HT: MIS! More Paige Benton Brown teachings here.
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Do All Pastors Need to be Administrators / Organizers?
Hmmmmm … interesting post by Chris Brauns (currently guest posting over at TakeYourVitaminZ): Do All Leaders in the Local Church Need to Be Gifted Administrators/Organizers? The answer may surprise you. It did, me. But upon further reflection, especially thinking through the various church conflicts I’ve either been involved with or assisted with, I have to say, “Yes. That’s right.” (How many church splits can trace their initial trajectory to a miscommunication / someone dropping the ball and really hurting someone by letting them down / leaders who scare their sheep by not keeping them informed, etc.) Plus, this highlights yet another wonderful practical reason for learning to enjoy—and benefit…
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Just Let It GO! (Oh my ….)
Chris Brauns is guest posting over at TakeYourVitaminZ and his post is worth the read: Have You Ever Made a Big Deal Out Of Something That Wasn’t a Big Deal? Read this post. It might help you to drop stuff in the future. We’re doing OK here. Kind of a long night, but today’s a new day! Great news: The vet said that Lili did not decline further in the night. They’re going to keep her on fluids and gradually introduce foods and see how she does. This morning Soph and I wrestled through subdividing some complex rhythms in a violin piece. Like so many musicians, she plays very well…
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From Bad to Worse (with moments of grace …)
Just a quick update on my, ummm, challenging day. THANK YOU for praying and for the kind emails/fb comments/blog comments. I truly appreciate it. My day was certainly a challenging one to begin, but I had a lovely conversation with a friend mid-day, so that was great. But my dental work was excruciating and still is—plus, it’s now morphed into a throbbing, blinding, nauseating migraine. No fun. But the girls and I are getting through it. (Soph did our Bible reading tonight. 🙂 ) The most stressful part of my day is related to my sweet Golden, Lilikoi: I’m just SO grateful that I followed my instincts and took her…
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Death Be Not Proud
Tim Challies posted this John Donne poem this morning and as I read it, I was flooded with memories from my freshman year in high school—the year God saved me—because I was reading John Gunther’s book by the same title (Death Be Not Proud) and the reality of the brevity of life was pressing hard upon me. If you haven’t read the Gunther book, it is a memoir by the father of a remarkable teenage boy who is diagnosed with brain cancer and dies at age seventeen. To the best of my recollection, it is not an overtly “Christian” book. I don’t recall that it included any clear presentation of…
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What Would a Jury Say?
One of my favorite memories from my law school days was the time that Dr. Paul Jensen (who also happened to be a law student at the same time—long story) facilitated a discussion during Easter Week on the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what would a jury say? He was his usual humble, brilliant self. And, as one of the leaders of the law school’s Christian Legal Society student group (who was sponsoring the discussion), I was thrilled that it was standing-room only. I’d have to dig up my old notes to review all of his points. But I remember that he was careful to include only…
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Nothing is More Destructive to Christian Fellowship
‘Nothing could be more destructive to Christian koinonia than the common practice today of pretending not to have any problems. It is often true that Christian homes may be filled with bickering, squabbling, angry tantrums, even bodily attacks of one member of the family against another, and yet not one word of this is breathed to anyone else and the impression is carefully cultivated before other Christians that this is an ideal Christian family with no problems of any serious consequence to be worked out. To make matters even worse, this kind of conspiracy of silence is regarded as the Christian thing to do, and the hypocrisy it presents to…
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Why We’re Not Emergent
I’ve been meaning to read Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck’s book, Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be, for a couple of years now. And after a quick re-reading of “Being the Body” and “Life Together” this morning, I’m diving into it this afternoon. (Can you tell I’m not in Momma Tara Mode Today? Nope. Still feels strange to be able to get a cold drink or use the restroom without having to coordinate three people and accouterments, but for a few hours today, I’m tucked away in my church’s library stretching a different part of my heart and brain.) I have to say, so far, DeYoung…
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One Mediator
‘A Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ. Among men there is strife. ‘He is our peace,’ says Paul of Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:14). Without Christ there is discord between God and man and between man and man. Christ became the Mediator and made peace with God and among men. Without Christ we should not know God, we could not call upon Him, nor come to Him. But without Christ we also would not know our brother, nor could we come to him. The way is blocked by our ego. Christ opened up the way to God and to our brother. Now Christians can live with one another in…
