Lots-o-Links

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!)

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.

Lots-o-Links 2.12.14

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New Phantogram, Voices, is really compelling. Stream the whole thing FREE right now.

It's poppy, dark, electric, fun, grindy, and more. If you had any love for Chvrches, you just might love this one too. Make sure you make it at least through the third song, "Fall In Love." Trust me.

Race, Religion, Puritans: An Interview With Richard Bailey | Richard is a good friend and author of Race and Redemption in Puritan New England (Kindle). A sample...

Moore: It is not well known that Jonathan Edwards owned slaves.  How should we think of Edwards in light of this reality?

Bailey: I am not 100% certain how to answer this question, David. I am glad that this fact about Edwards is becoming more commonly known and I am glad that my book can have something to do with that fact.

But how to think of Edwards? Well, Jonathan Edwards is certainly more than simply a slave owner. He is an important figure in the development of American evangelicalism and the modern missions movement. He is one of America’s most prominent philosophers and theologians. He certainly ought to be remembered for those sorts of legacies. But he also was a purchaser of human flesh. He actively defended and participated in the slave trade. And I’d argue he must be remembered for that, as well. I think that is what it means to take on the virtual amnesias of our pasts.

The one way I would encourage people NOT to think of Jonathan Edwards is as “a man of his time.” That sort of phrase doesn’t really mean anything; rather, it is a way of not thinking about Edwards. And I hope people will continue to think about him, relying of the historical work of George Marsden in Jonathan Edwards: A Life (Yale University Press, 2003) or the recent novel by Susan Stinson, Spider in a Tree (Small Beer Press, 2013) to get a more complete picture not only of the man, but also of the society and culture of which he was a part.

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The Seven Benefits of Keeping a Daily Journal by Michael Hyatt | I don't do this but this makes me want to do something like this. Here are his points, but he elaborates on each and offers a lot more context on his website. Be sure to read the whole thing.

  1. Process previous events. 
  2. Clarify my thinking. 
  3. Understand the context. 
  4. Notice my feelings. 
  5. Connect with my heart.
  6. Record significant lessons.
  7. Ask important questions. 

Alt-J had my #2 album of 2012 with An Awesome Wave. Their coolest song among an album of quirky coolness is "Fitzpleasure." This is an amazing acapella version...by what appears to be a group of UK schoolboys?