• Hope in Suffering

    Every Dream Lost. Every Dream Fulfilled.

    My morning walks with Lilikoi (in real life) and Rev. Dr. Ligon Duncan (via Ipod sermons) continue to be of tremendous help to me. I really credit my relative (for Tara!) emotional and spiritual stability this summer to the fresh air, physical activity, and time to contemplate Holy Scripture and God Himself uninterruptedly. (Thanks for this gift, Fred! And thanks, too, to all of the husbands who take care of young children to give their wives similar BREAKS from the (wonderfully exhausting) constancy of taking care of little ones all day.) Today’s sermon is not to be missed. Especially if you or someone you love is experiencing loss. To paraphrase…

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    Equipped to Share the Gospel

    I really appreciated Pastor Anyabwile’s summary of these excellent articles by Ligon Duncan: The Gospel and the Local Congregation What is Evangelism? And What is the Gospel? I encourage you to read the entire articles themselves (or at least Thabiti’s summary), here are just a few excerpts to tempt you: “By [gospel culture] I mean: – that your whole congregation would be able to articulate the Gospel, personally, in a compelling and understandable way; – that your whole congregation would deeply care about conversions (and I would lay stress here, that we are talking about real conversions, not numbers; but disciples, not decisions; but changed lives); – that your whole…

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    True and Better …

    No matter what is on your heart as you wake up this Monday morning, I bet these 3 minutes and 49 seconds will help to reorient you to a God-centered focus that  says, “Yes! This is true. Thank You, Lord, that this really is true.” (HT: The Gopel Coalition Blog)  

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    There Are No Bad Confessions

    Uh-oh. In light of something Dave said in our call yesterday, I think I need to change something I’ve said a zillion times—and something that is permanently “out there” in Peacemaking Women and Living the Gospel in Relationships … Even though I usually talk about “bad confessions” when I teach the Peacemaker Ministries Seven A’s of Confession, I think I need to stop using that term. This is the quote from Dave that is convicting me BIG TIME: ‘There is really no such thing as a bad confession. A bad confession is just no confession at all. You have great confessions and you have no confession. You can try to…

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Longing for a Friend? Don’t Waste Time Waiting for Someone to Befriend You

    We have another “friend/prayer group” starting up next week and I’m just thrilled. For those of you who haven’t heard my teaching on this topic, the quick bottomline is that a “friend/prayer group” is just a set time that 4 or 5 women meet every week for friendship and for prayer. We don’t read a book or study the Bible. We accomplish no “goals” other than sharing our lives and being friends. It’s wonderful and particularly helpful for people like me—introverts, lots o’ weaknesses, not naturally good at relationships—because it is intentional; and it’s particularly helpful for busy people because it forces you to set aside time and keep a…

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    Getting Things Done to the Next Level

    This will give some of you the heebie-jeebies, but others may enjoy it: Getting Things Done to the Next Level If you already feel disorganized, overwhelmed, and that you’ll never be able to get a handle on everything in your life, I encourage you to not read it. Instead? Spend time with a friend who LIKES to organize things and can gently, calmly, help you to take one little step at a time into making order out of chaos.   But if you LOVE “GTD” or if you just enjoy order and tasklists, etc. etc., enjoy! It’s quite a read. (HT: Challies.com)  

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    Butte Montana with the Lyndes

    Our mini-vacation with the Lyndes in beautiful Butte, Montana is coming to a close. We’ve had lots of fun at the An Ri Ra Irish Festival, including a dance class with the internationally renown Chicago-based Trinity Irish Dancers: A visit to the Berkeley Pit: And mostly just hanging out together, having fun:   Back to the real world soon! Hope your weekend is a blessed one— Yours, Tara B. PS Here are the two photos that Samaralara likes the best. Especially the second one:  

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Christians and Lawsuits

    Pastor Brian Croft has an interesting and helpful post over at PracticalShepherding: How Do You Shepherd a Christian Brother Who is Being Sued by a Non-Christian? Some good thoughts there. Definitely worth your read. Of course it reminded me of Appendix D in Ken Sande’s, The Peacemaker, “When Is It Right to Go to Court”? Oh! If you are ever faced with the difficult (and often frightening, exhausting, and expensive) situation of being sued, I urge you to get Ken’s book. This Appendix alone is worth the price of the book. Out of curiosity, after I read Pastor Croft’s article, I did a little google searching on the topic just…