Darkness Can Slowly Creep In

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From Jen Thorn...

You know, you can find yourself in a dark spot without tragedy turning your life upside down. Darkness can slowly creep in like a cool fog until it has filled your heart.

And Satan rejoices when this happens, because during these times I am useless for the Kingdom, or so it seems. I don’t do a good job encouraging my husband or pointing my kids to Jesus. Satan loves that. I forget what the providence of God really means and ignore his word. I become discontent and unhappy. I am sure this makes Satan cheer because my quest for godliness seems to have come to a screeching halt.

The path to godliness is not a “flowery” path full of ease and sunshine. Though I really wish it was.  It is instead an uphill road filled with difficulty, pitfalls, enemies, thorns, confusion, and sometimes darkness.

Read the rest: "Treasures in the Dark" by Jen Thorn

Amanda Tweeted About Dying With Cancer

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I don't know if it's true. Some have said maybe not. Either way it makes you think about life and death. Something we can learn from...

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Amanda was diagnosed last year with terminal brain cancer and tweeted about it. It's very sad and it's very much worth your time. This video takes you through her last few months of tweets. She wasn't a Christian and didn't think about life and death like most of my readers do. She also didn't use language all my readers use, so be aware. But these last tweets of her life give us new eyes to understand our neighbors, and even ourselves. If you are anything like me, it will generate questions and provoke thoughts that will inform your ministry and even spark discussion with friends and loved ones. It's remarkable because it's rare to get a view into someone in social media this way. It's sad for so many reasons.

Cheap Kindle Books 2.5.14

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Lots-o-Links 2.5.14

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I Don't Worship God By Singing. I Connect With Him Elsewhere by Donald Miller -- This is an important post and an important issue. I don't agree with Miller but he speaks for many and evangelicals and pastors need to talk about the issues Miller brings up and respond reasonably and not just react.

So, do I attend church? Not often, to be honest.

Like I said, it’s not how I learn.

Miller's follow up post - Miller responds to certain comments he received after the initial post and elaborates on what he's already said.

While I love the traditional church, I love it like a foundational part of my past, as though it were a University I’ve graduated from to join a much larger church those still in the University program are quite suspicious of.

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I’d say half of the most impactful people I know, who love Jesus and tear up at the mention of His name, who reach out to the poor and lonely and are fundamentally sound in their theology, who create institutions that feed hundreds of thousands, do not attend a traditional church service. Many of them even speak at churches, but they have no home church and don’t long for one. They aren’t wired to be intimate with God by attending a lecture and hearing singing (which there is NOTHING wrong with) they are wired to experience God by working with Him.

Journalists at Sochi Tweeting Their Experiences -- If you aren't following Sochi journalists, now is the time to start. This is frightening, sad, and ridiculous. 

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Romans 1-7 For You by Tim Keller is out. About this series of books...

• READ: As a guide to this wonderful letter, helping you appreciate the great gift of righteousness with God.
• FEED: As a daily devotional to help you grow in Christ as you read and meditate on this portion of God’s word.
• LEAD: As notes to aid you in explaining, illustrating and applying Romans 1–7 as you preach or lead a Bible study.

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Worldview Responses to the 2014 Grammys -- I love the idea of collecting short-ish responses to a cultural event. You get very different thoughts often from people who view the event from very different angles. I love the response from Greg Thornbury of King's College. Here's the opening paragraph of it...

If you heard the sound of yawning around America this morning, it wasn't because the country stayed up too late watching the Grammys, it's because we've gotten bored with them. The Grammys once mattered because pop music mattered. Once upon a time, J. Edgar Hoover monitored the movement of rock stars like John Lennon because he was a perceived political threat, because he was anti-establishment. Nowadays, our rock stars are the establishment, and that's not very, well, rock and roll.

Jared Wilson, #DGPasCon, & Storytelling God

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It looks like Jared Wilson is beside himself as he speaks at the Desiring God Pastors' Conference because he realizes they stole his new book cover for their backdrop and branding!

Ok, he probably loves it. I do! Jared's speaking at a conference about The Vine and the Branches and he wrote a book about the parables, The Storytelling God, which comes out later this month. 

Pre-order it: Amazon | Kindle. More at Crossway.

Trying Out iPhone 5s Slow Motion Video

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This is my first try at using the slo-mo feature on the iPhone 5s. I was out with Elijah (13) and Daniel (10 1/2) and got a short crash video from Danny. Nothing really done but slow motion and quick upload to YouTube before pasting here. I wasn't even thinking about landscaping my phone! Anyway, if you are looking for real world examples of what the 5s slo-mo feature looks like, here you go. I think the results are pretty great.

Short-Term Family Resolutions

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I'm really bad at keeping New Year's resolutions. I know a lot of folks are. Making resolutions remains a big part of our culture. So does breaking them. 

In the last year or two my family has started to shift toward short-term resolutions, disciplines, and habit-building. It puts our goals within reach. We still have longer term goals, but by creating bite-sized "wins" we help ourselves take manageable strides toward them. We still make mistakes, as I explain below, but because the resolutions are short-term we get to adjust in the short-term.

This is what we have been doing.

We locate a date 3-6 weeks off. It might be the day a vacation starts, a holiday, the day school is over, etc. There's always something 3-6 weeks out we can choose as an end date. Then we think about and talk about what we want to do and write it down. Different types of fasting are involved as well as disciplines. 

Here are main areas of focus as we kicked off 2014. We called it a "January Fast" (though it wasn't only fasting).

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  • BIBLE READING - The kids and Molly completed a 24 day reading plan through Luke. The kids also completed a 5 day reading plan on student leadership. I read the New Testament in full in January. We picked and followed our plans through YouVersion. The family mostly read in their personal Bibles and I read YouVersion on my iPad. I've never done that and liked it a lot more than I expected. 
  • FOOD - We limited, beyond regular family limitations, intake of sugary drinks/soda. The most difficult food-related fast was not going out to eat in January. We had grown lazy with that and needed a change.
  • GAMES - We fasted from some of our favorite video games, mostly on the PS3. I haven't played Black Ops II for a month. That was difficult. My two youngest boys and typically play for 20 minutes almost every day.
  • COMPUTERS - We put tighter limits on the use of computers and electronics by the kids for January. We had two "no electronics" days a week in January.

There were other pieces of the "January Fast" that we planned and only completed in part. Some reading I didn't finish, for example. I planned too much. We did some Bible memory, but not all we wanted. Our family worship didn't quite go as planned. And we were going to do a more traditional fast from food during the month but somehow it didn't happen (my youngest pointed that out). But with short-term family resolutions we are always only a few weeks away from hitting refresh, changing goals, fasting from something new, or whatever else we'd like to work on. 

In the past we've done things like no-shopping fasts where we have to make meals out of whatever is in the freezer and pantry so that we don't shop for more food for a few weeks. It's amazing how much great food keeps getting passed over and over.

To break our "January Fast" we are going out to eat tonight. It's probably going to be something simple, a burger and a Coke. But we don't know for sure where we are going because every time we try to discuss it with the kids they keep talking about what God's been teaching them though the fast! It's been a very cool, and in many ways difficult, January. But it's been good. I'm sure tonight we'll be talking about what "fast" we'll try before spring break!

The Fault In Our Stars | Trailer

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I've been looking forward to the trailer for The Fault In Our Stars for a while now. The movie is based on the John Green book with the same title. The trailer is both heartbreaking and hopeful.

If you want to know what your neighbors will be watching, and feeling, and longing for, and crying over...this is it. It brings together life and death, the fear of oblivion, the hope of finding love, and a bunch more.

You may want to check out the book before the movie releases in June (Amazon | Kindle).

Goldeneye

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I have seen some interesting things while at the doctor before on x-rays, MRIs, etc. I've never seen this. Elijah (13) has something wrong with his eye. Red, irritated, not pink eye. Dye was put in his eye to check for a scratch yesterday. This photo has no filters or adjustments. Dye and a blue light to check it. Awesome.

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Pete Seeger Dead at 94

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I've learned a little about Pete Seeger through some documentaries I've watched recently. His life included a lot of controversy and a lot of song. Regardless of your view of him, his music remains and his influence was and is wide. From the NYT...

Mr. Seeger was a prime mover in the folk revival that transformed popular music in the 1950s. As a member of the Weavers, he sang hits including Lead Belly’s “Goodnight, Irene” — which reached No. 1 — and “If I Had a Hammer,” which he wrote with the group’s Lee Hays. Another of Mr. Seeger’s songs, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?,” became an antiwar standard. And in 1965, the Byrds had a No. 1 hit with a folk-rock version of “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” Mr. Seeger’s setting of a passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes. (via NYT)

I can't help but see him as a cultural "worship leader" of sorts, as you can see with songs like "If I Had A Hammer" and "Michael Row the Boat Ashore." He believed that there is a power in song. You can find some of those songs in albums like If I Had A Hammer: Songs of Hope and Struggle.

As Christians it would be good for us to consider the power and possibility of creating songs a culture can sing beyond the church. Is there value in that? Is there anyone out there doing that? How can we foster artists who make a cultural impact? 

Worldviews & Whirlwinds

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I'm fascinated by a couple of new titles for sale at WTSbooks.com. In particular, the description of What's Your Worldview...

How do you view the world?
It's a big question. And how you answer is one of the most important things about you.

Not sure what you'd say? Join James Anderson on an interactive journey of discovery aimed at helping you understand and evaluate the options when it comes to identifying your worldview. Cast in the mold of a classic “Choose Your Own Adventure” story, What's Your Worldview? will guide you toward finding intellectually satisfying answers to life's biggest questions—equipping you to think carefully about not only what you believe but why you believe it and how it impacts the rest of your life.

Endorsements by D.A. Carson, John Frame and others.

 

Tim Keller endorses David Wells' new book, God in the Whirlwind...

In this important book, David Wells begins the process of bringing his influential critique of late modern culture and the church down into practice. Here we have a ‘practical theology’ for conducting the church’s life based on the reality of a God of ‘Holy-love.’ This particular way of understanding and preaching the doctrine of God, Wells believes, protects the church from either being co-opted by the culture or becoming a ghettoized subculture. Decades of teaching theology is boiled down here into accessible, practical chapters. I’m glad to recommend this volume.

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Outstanding. It's a score, so it's not a collection of songs. But I think you will love it and love working to it. Beautiful.

Getting Big Projects Done: Best Practices from Successful Writers from Unclutterer

Break things into bite-sized pieces and create daily habits

"How to Discourage Artists in the Church" by Phil Ryken - This is from 2013, but I read it again and it's so helpful. Here's one point (remember, this is the wrong thing to do)...

"Demand artists to give answers in their work, not raise questions. Mark Lewis says, "Makecertain that your piece (or artifact or performance) makes incisive theological or moral points, and doesn't stray into territory about which you are unresolved or in any way unclear. (Clear answers are of course more valuable than questions)." Do not allow for ambiguity, or for varied responses to art. Demand art to communicate in the same way to everyone."

Why I Am A Continuationist by Sam Storms & Why I Am A Cessationist by Tom Schreiner

These two pieces at The Gospel Coalition give helpful, scholarly, theological and experiential reasons for their views. 

How to Handle Discouragement in Ministry

"Watch the full six-minute video to see [Darrin Patrick, Paul Tripp, & Voddie Baucham] discuss isolation, broken trust, pastors as body parts, and more."

Cheap Kindle Books 1.23.14

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My Blog & Resisting Gossip

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Back in December I got this email from Matt Mitchell. His name wasn't familiar to me and I didn't remember the details of his story very well. But this is pretty cool...

I've been an on-again-off-again reader of your blog for a long time (and I follow you now on Twitter).

Today, via Google, I (re)discovered this (long forgotten) post of yours.

And I found myself commenting on it about half way down the page:

Anyone know a good book about gossip? It would be great to read a biblical, systematic, yet practical treatment of this very common sin. I sometimes find myself in similar situations to Steve in this post or have to give counsel to those who are, and I often feel at a loss to know how to evaluate the complexities of this area.

If no book exists, it seems like this would fill a big need in the church.

And then you reply to me, and I say:

What? Do my own Bible study on gossip? How "Old School!"

Okay, I'll do it. And then maybe I'll write the book and go on the Christian-lecture-circuit. =D

What's funny, is that even though I didn't remember this back-and-forth, eventually I actually did the study and write the book! :-)  (My earliest memory of the idea of studying this topic was August of 2008, more than two years after this exchange.)

The reason I decided to write you was not only to relay the funny story, but also to thank you for the blog, for your graciousness, and for inciting me in the first place to take up this study!

Blessings,

-Matt Mitchell

How cool is that? Matt is more than kind in saying that I incited him toward writing a book, but it's a neat story nonetheless.

Not only is that cool, Resisting Gossip is available this week only for 50% off. A great deal. Need more incentive? Forward is by Ed Welch... 

"Isn't it amazing that most of us have never read a clear, pastoral and practical book on what Scripture says about gossip? Well, here it is. Matt will guide you through this topic in such a way that you will be convicted–I certainly was. But he will do more than that. He will give you ideas about how you can spread good news about others in such a way that the church will be more united and God will be honored.”

Thankful that Matt recalled this great backstory and shared it with us. Now go grab Resisting Gossip!