Friday Finds.

Happy Friday!

Later this afternoon, Trey and I are driving to Raleigh to volunteer at the Matt Papa/Lecrae concert that the Summit is hosting!  

...aaaand we're driving back tonight.  It's gonna be a late one, folks.

But it's summer...well, not for him. Oops. 

Here's the list of five of my favorite articles I've read this week!

1)  Now That Amendment One Has Passed

by my pastor, JD Greear, of The Summit Church

"We are to lead in being good neighbors to all in our community, especially our gay community."

2)  Why We Got Married

by Larissa Murchy, via Desiring God

"Fortunately, our hope is that we've also wathed all of these alongside Jesus, who is our own man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3).  So we have not walked it alone."

3)  Why Bible Study Doesn't Transform Us

Jen Wilkin of The Village Church

"If our exposure to it fails to result in transformation, particularly over the course of years, there are surely only two possible reasons why: either our Bible studies lack true converts, or our converts lack true Bible study."

4)  Are You Pinning to the Glory of God?

Trisha Wilkerson, via The Resurgence 

"Before long, we've created an alternate world for our 'best self,' an ideal we'll never live up to."

5)    Where Are All the Women Apologists?
Jonalyn Fincher, via Hermenutics

"'Christian apologetics...will need women skilled in Islamic apologetics to speak with Muslim women, to go where Christian men cannot.'"

What are some insightful articles you've read recently?

Friday Finds.

Happy Friday!

Here's my list of five, fervent, enlightening articles I discovered this week!

Prayer, Ghandi, Ryan Gosling, evangelism, and comparison are all discussed.

Check 'em out: 

1)  Prayer and Talking to my Children
Brad Hambrick, counseling pastor at The Summit Church

"...I saw in my prayerlessness an intentionally isolated child trying to make meaning of life without engaging their Father for help.  Why would I do that?"

2)  Gandhi Doesn't Like Us

Tim Challies, pastor of Grace Fellowship Church

"Jesus reserved the harshest words for the religious elite, those who declared that they were holy, that they understood the nature of God, that they had achieved some kind of enlightenment."

3)  Ryan Gosling, Romance Novels, and the Dangers of Fantasizing

Anna Broadway, writer for Hermenutics

"Though we almost always turn to them when life's brokenness has reasserted itself, such fantasies represent the wrong kind of change."

4)  The Fire of Belief
Douglas Wilson, from The Resurgence blog

"A relativistic age is sure of nothing, except for a dogged commitment to the necessity of that relativism."

5)  Marriage Poison 
Sharon Hodde Miller, from her blog, She Worships

"...when reality is competing with fantasy, fantasy always wins."

What are some great articles you've read recently?

Friday Finds.

Happy Friday!

"All my bags are packed I'm ready to go"

...song reference?

As of about 11:00pm today, I'm I-40 East bound! I have a job interview for a summer position at a daycare in Wilmington!

Here are some urgent, important, worshipful articles I discovered this week...

(confession: or last week)

...check them out!

1)  This is awkward, but...how's your present?

Ben Reed, small groups pastor at Grace Community Church

"Talking about your present struggles is like swallowing a spoonful of medicine.  You know it's going to help, but it tastes rancid going down."

2)  Otherness

Jen Wilkin, mother, writer and member of The Village Church

"This world is not our home.  We are sojourners, travelers on our way to the only true comfort the human heart can know.  I will not help you populate your life with things that lessen your grip on this reality...because I love your Heavenly Father above all else.  And I will give an account to Him for whether I have raised citizens of Earth or citizens of Heaven."

3)    Should Christians Boycott Starbucks?

Dr. Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

"The argument behind a boycott assumes that the "rightness" of a marriage definition is constituted by a majority with power.  Isn't that precisely what we're arguing against?"

4)  When Prayer is a Struggle

Tresta Payne, mother.

"But this is a Friday with new mercies and why not pancakes?  They come out of their rooms confused, but thankful.  
That must be the joy -- thankful confusion."

5)  When Foot Washing Is Not About the Feet

Elyse Fitzpatrick, biblical counselor

"We need to wash one another, to carefully probe, cleanse, disinfect, and heal each other, and this isn't something we can see clearly enough to do on our own.  We need the eyes and hands of others."

What are some great articles you've read recently?