Lots-o-Links 11.20.14

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Tim Keller's New Lectures on Preaching | Here you will find four new lectures on preaching and a link to Keller's older talks with Clowney on preaching. Also check out my Tim Keller Resources page.

New books to check out, especially as the new year approaches...

National Book Awards for 2014 | I'm going to check out Louise Gluck's winning book of poetry, Faithful and Virtuous Night. Check out winners and finalists for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young people's literature.

Christmas music on my radar...

Global HAIKU Project by Baron Fig | These creators of great notebooks are trying to help you collaborate on great poetry. A neat idea! Nothing complicated. In the span of a few minutes you can contribute to three poems. Can't wait to show my kiddos and get them involved. Also check out Baron Fig notebooks & company. (Also, don't miss my earlier post on the most beautiful, affordable notebooks I've come across for daily use. They aren't Baron Fig, but I love those too!)

Logos - Bible Speaks Today NT Commentaries

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For the last few months I've been using the Bible Speaks Today (BST) New Testament commentary series on Logos. They supplied me with the digital copy in my Logos library for use and review. I reviewed Logos 5 in March and my review for Logos 6 will be up in a few weeks. It's an outstanding program.

The BST commentary series isn't new to me. Commentaries from this set have been a blessing to me for years and are some of my favorite commentaries because they do so well at blending Bible exposition, pastoral considerations, and theology. They are deep without isolating folks who don't have knowledge of the biblical languages. Excellent work by John Stott. 

Like any commentary series with multiple authors, you have some outstanding commentaries and a few that just don't trip your trigger. Stott's commentaries in this series (Sermon on the Mount, Acts, Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, the Timothys) are amazing. I've read the Acts commentary multiple times and used all the others I listed in part or in full. But Stott's volumes aren't the only good ones. Motyer, Clowney, and Milne are just a few of the others I've used in some form and really like. 

I've been using BST on Logos almost exclusively on my iPad. It's super quick. I have BST on the left and ESV on the right and it's the most fun I have using a commentary. I've used it on my iPhone when I forgot my iPad at home. 

Having a top notch New Testament commentary series everywhere I go is a delight. I'm currently using it Milne on the Gospel of John for my sermon series on John. I've typically used paper commentaries to read through once either in my home office or at a cafe and I take notes from it and don't look at it again. I find myself referring back more, and reworking my thoughts on a passage better, by having the commentary with me.

I've had Logos for a while and have a number of great resources to use on it. Most of the resources I've used are individual books or small sets on theology or culture. This is the first set of newer commentaries for Logos that I have and it's proven to be everything Logos has promised. I've replaced a piece of my library and I'm using it more than ever and better than ever.

What to replace next?

Check out Logos 6 and The Bible Speaks Today New Testament Commentary Series. For $99.95 you get the whole set, 22 volumes (8 are from Stott). A great deal. 

Field Notes - Ambition

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Two of the everyday carry (EDC) things are a pocket notebook and a pencil. I'm nerding out over them and they are making my daily work more efficient, my mind less cluttered, and my productivity apps on my phone a little more lonely. My favorite pocket notebook, a recent discovery of mine, is Field Notes. And what a discovery. Small enough to keep in a front pocket or throw in a bag. It's barely noticed, yet it gives me the freedom to have the original "white board" with me everywhere I go to do with as I please. I use it as a paper planner, mind dump, quote collector, todo list, journal, and more. I plan to share more about how I'm using my Field Notes/pocket notebooks another time.

Right now I want to talk to you about one particular Field Notes book that just might make you fall in love with this size of notebook.

On top of a number of always-available and very useful notebooks (Kraft, Cherry Wood, Pitch Black, County Fair) Field Notes has what they call a "Colors" collection that goes to yearly subscribers and those who place special orders until they sell out. 

The newest "Colors" Field Notes is called "Ambition." You can buy a pack (three books) for $9.95. In each 3-pack there is one schedule book, one ledger, and one graph paper notebook. You can use them as they are intended or hack them to use as needed, which is what I might do. These feature gorgeous covers and colors, gilded pages, and even gold colored staples. A perfect companion for you as you journal, take notes, or write out a new idea.

They will sell out and, as I've learned the last couple of months, they will even go up in price as unused limited edition Field Notes always go up in price. Yet they are only $9.95 for three packs and no more expensive than their regular, always-produced editions. Amazing. I'm buying a bunch. I thought some of my readers might want to buy some to use or to give as gifts this Christmas season.

A couple more photos below.

Ambition schedule book, ledger, and graph.

Ambition schedule book, ledger, and graph.

Beautiful gilded edges from a Bible printing company.

Beautiful gilded edges from a Bible printing company.

Zimzum - Rob Bell's Inspiration

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I'm convinced a movie night with his wife, and specifically hearing the song and the lyrics below, convinced Rob Bell to write The Zimzum of Love. Oh I know "zimzum" is from the Hebrew and all that. Blah blah blah. I'm not dumb, Rob. I know. Just check out these lyrics and the song below to find the real inspiration for crazy relationship words. Maybe they didn't use the word "zimzum" but it would of fit right in.

We're one of a kind
Like dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo
Our names are signed
Boogedy boogedy boogedy boogedy
Shooby doo-wop she-bop
Chang chang changitty chang sha-bop
We'll always be like one, wa-wa-wa-waaah

Cheap Kindle Books 10.28.14

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Cheap Kindle Books 10.12.14

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Lots-o-Links 9.25.14

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The Palomino Blackwing Pearl is probably the greatest pencil I've ever used. If you've never tried them, wowwy you are in for a treat. Pick up a pack.

Austin Kleon has made clipboards look like an interesting as a part of office design.

This is one of my favorite themes: it’s not that I have a need and then I seek out the right tool for it, but most of the time, having a tool lying around (like a row of clipboards) will inspire me to find some use for it.

Where Have All The Poets Gone?

We need our poets now more than ever. In fact, they should be on the front lines — at rallies and marches — questioning and rebuking whatever systems they deem poisonous to civil society. They once fed us, our poets; emptying themselves in the process. Generously, courageously, they brought the darkness to light. They said what we felt, and didn't mind taking the heat for it — whatever that meant. Did they stop speaking, or have we stopped listening?

Christian Wiman on Poetry and Faith

Why We Get Stuck

“Stuckness” is just a part of doing hard things. However, just plowing through is not necessarily the answer. Internal work does not always equate to external progress. Instead, it can sometimes be helpful to step back and consider the particular source of your stagnancy. There are three that I encounter all the time.

Far Kingdom

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I haven't been shy in expressing my love for and joy in the music of Gray Havens (Dave & Licia Radford). The new song, "Far Kingdom," is a song I've been listening to for a while from their upcoming January 2015 album Fire & Stone. I couldn't wait to introduce to you, and they've just released a video so I get the pleasure of sharing it. It's simple, and soaring, and gorgeous. I have yet to listen to it without getting the chills. Follow the lyrics below the video. Also check out Where Eyes Don't Go. 

Far Kingdom is from The Gray Haven's upcoming album, "Fire and Stone," to be released on January 6th, 2015.

Lyrics:

There is a far kingdom
A ways from here
Beyond the storm and the sea
There will be no need of darkness
And none for tears
When that far kingdom I see

There’s a river we will know
Ever clear and ever full
From the fount that overflows
In the light of the King
And when we drink it we will find
That this joy, ever full, will ever rise
And it’ll rise on, in the kingdom
In the kingdom

There is a far kingdom
On the other side of the glass
And by a faint light we see
Still there is more gladness
Longing for the sight
Than to behold or be filled, by anything

There’s a river we will know
Ever clear and ever full
From the fount that overflows
In the light of the King
And when we drink it we will find
That this joy, ever full, will ever rise
And it’ll rise on, in the kingdom
In the kingdom

There is a far, far kingdom
There at the end of the sea
Where they know my name
And until that far, far kingdom
Calls me home
Oh, my soul, I will wait

For the river we will know
Ever clear and ever full
From the fount that overflows
In the light of the King
And when we drink it we will find
That this joy, ever full, will ever rise
And it’ll rise on, in the kingdom
In the kingdom
And it’ll rise on, in the kingdom
In the kingdom

Music Monday 9.1.14

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<--STREAMING FREE-->

<--CHEAP-->

<--COMING SOON-->

Delta Spirit, one of my favorite bands, one of my favorite live bands, and has a new album releasing on 9.9 -- Into the Wide (pre-order for $6.99 and get 3 songs now). I've requested and received a review copy and I'm enjoying it a lot. At this point it is feeling like it will end up being my favorite DS album. My favorite song so far is "Push It," which is one of the three you get when you pre-order. I'll probably be posting on it at some point. The video for "From Now On" has just come out and it's great. It makes you think.

<--BURNING UP MY iPOD-->