Laudable Linkage

Posted on July 11, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good reads found this week:

The Best Man in Hell, HT to Challies. “John is known all around town as an upstanding citizen. As we look into the future, John lives a long and happy life. And when John dies, he’ll be the best man in hell.”

“I’m Not Feeling It Today”: Bad Reasons We Neglect the Bible, HT to Challies. “By nature, I’m not someone who values discipline and routine. I despise dead ritual and lifeless liturgy. But my love for spontaneity has steadily drawn me over time to recognize, and appreciate, how the power of habit can serve spontaneous joy rather than replace or suffocate it.”

Rugged Love and Your Prodigal, HT to Challies. “Most of our wandering is routine, even predictable. We envy. We lust. We overeat. We nurse resentment. We grow impatient when life doesn’t unfold according to our plans. Then we confess, receive forgiveness, recalibrate, and move forward. This is ordinary sanctification. But there are times when ‘prone to wander’ takes a particularly obstinate and destructive turn.”

Mothers. Let Your Tears Water the Seeds Planted, HT to Challies. “Monica is the kind of mother that I have ministered to on a great many occasions. You know your God loves you. You know God loves your child. You see every sin. You see the pain caused by their actions. Augustine writes openly and honestly as a broken, lustful, and prideful man. Yet time and time again he returns to his mother’s heart and concern for him.”

Hope and Lament in Suffering. “A true biblical position on suffering is not binary; it upholds both hope and lament.”

The Discipline of Darkness. This was a message by Adrian Rogers that I heard part of on the radio one day. I thought it was so good that I looked it up online to read the rest. The link goes to an overview page, but there is a place to click to listen to it or to read the outline and transcript. “Sometimes, I think, we over-promise in order to somehow get people to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a distorted idea that if you become a Christian, it will be all joy and all light and all sweetness, and just roses all through life. There’ll be no sickness; there’ll be no sorrow. We’re just going to go through life in an ever-ascending scale of health and success. And then, we’re going to die at a serene old age, and then have a glorious exit and go to Heaven. It would be nice if it happens that way; but, folks, it generally does not.”

Why Did God Give Us Mosaics? “If I were to hand you a box filled with shattered glass, another filled with shards of pottery, and a third filled with broken seashells, and then tell you to create something beautiful, you might scoff at me and doubt that it could ever be possible. You might laugh at the absurdity of it. Yet these mosaics prove that in the hands of a great artist, incredible beauty can arise from what appears to be little more than chaos, waste, and fragments.”

Cultural Enemies, HT to Challies. “Many Christians seem more intent on fitting into culture, or at least getting its affirmation, than opposing it. And the entire idea of being an enemy, or having one, seems out of sync with the Christ life.But it isn’t. Jesus made it very clear that He did not come to bring peace but a sword. Little wonder His own life did not end with a coronation but rather a crucifixion.”

Encouragement for Heading Off to College, HT to Challies. “If you are heading to university in the fall or if you love someone who is, I want to offer you a handful of lessons I have watched unfold in higher ed for decades. These lessons relate to a young person’s pursuit of wisdom, growth, community, and rest. These are the rails that keep life steady in this new season and beyond.”

Never doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light.—Warren W. Wiersbe

Laudable Linkage

Posted on July 4, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Happy 250th birthday to America! Our country, like all others, is not perfect. But we have much to be thankful for and to appreciate about our nation. The first few posts I’m sharing today touch on that theme.

America at 250: Teaching with Honesty and Gratitude, HT to the Story Warren. I don’t usually share blog posts about books I have not personally read. I don’t want to promote something I am unsure of. But I appreciated what was said in the first paragraphs of this post. “Young people are reportedly less patriotic, less involved in community issues and organizations, less likely to say they are proud or grateful to be Americans, than they were fifty years ago. Most of our readers would agree that their greatest love and loyalty are owed to God, but that doesn’t mean their country isn’t owed its rightful share.”

A Wholesome Patriotism Is Full of Gratitude to God. “A typical way to define patriotism is ‘having or expressing devotion to and vigorous support for one’s country.’ As a Christian, should you feel guilty for being patriotic? No.”

Our Hope, Our Home. “Like every nation in human history, ours bears the marks of both God’s common grace and humanity’s sin. . . . The church need not ignore either reality. Instead, we come today to thank God — not for a perfect nation — but for His undeserved kindness within an imperfect one.”

How Writers Helped Shape America: Lessons from the Declaration of Independence. “How did a squabble with the king over personal liberties grow into a movement uniting thirteen unique colonies into birthing a single democratic union? When we look back, we see that much of the breakup with Britain was due to one source: writers and speakers with a mission.”

Childhood Memories of the Bicentennial. This was a fun look back at America’s 200th birthday fifty years ago. I was a college student at that time, but I don’t remember anything about the Bicentennial other than that it happened.

The Jewish Curse. Biblical reasons against antisemitism.

A Different Kind of Influencer, HT to Challies. “Influencers are everywhere on social media. They make it their business to sell others whatever they love. But I’m thinking there’s another kind of influencer that Christians must be.”

What to Do When They Walk Away, HT to Challies. “Scripture never promised us that men and women would receive the gospel with open arms. I think we all know this. Jesus sent out the seventy-two and told them that some towns would refuse them and when that happened, they were to shake the dust from their feet and keep moving (Luke 10:10–11). Paul preached in Athens and some mocked him while others believed (Acts 17:32–34). The pattern has always been that the gospel divides, and that division is normal. Indeed the division isn’t a sign that something is wrong with you or even your method. Instead it shows that God is truthful. We should prepare for it and we should even expect it.”

Wives, Let Him Go to the Gate. “When some of these opportunities first presented themselves over the last few years, I read Proverbs 31:23 with fresh eyes. ‘Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.‘ And it hit me in a new way: she let him go to the gates. The gates were a place of business, law, and civic decisions, and being known in the gates and sitting among the elders indicates great leadership and influence. Part of me hates this verse because I love my husband’s company and metaphorically wilt when he is gone.”

The Phoebe Hoax, HT to Challies. “Never has more been made of so little than what egalitarians make of Paul’s mention of Phoebe in Romans 16:1-2. This is no disrespect to Phoebe, who clearly was a faithful Christian woman from the environs of Corinth. But egalitarians have fabricated an entire mythology around this woman that is not justified by what Paul actually says about her.”

The 50-Year Payoff: When Photo Albums Become Memorial Stones, HT to Challies. “As I went through the albums, I thought: This is why we did the work all those years ago, so that now, as an older man, I can look back over my life and see how richly God has blessed me.”

Laudable Linkage

Posted on June 27, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good reads found this week:

I Know God Is Good . . . but is He also Kind? “Like so many who encounter traumatic loss, I naturally responded with questions. I didn’t doubt the core goodness of God. My struggle related to God’s kindness: ‘Lord, I know you are good, but right now, it just doesn’t seem like you are kind.'”

The Daily Deaths We Die. “Life affords many opportunities to practice dying to self so that the treasure of Jesus is made known to others. When relationships are tough, ministry seems unfruitful, life is disappointing, bodies are sick, tired, and weakening, people don’t show up, or losses pile up, here’s how you can die and live in Christ.”

Biblical Self-Examination: Questions for Growth, HT to Challies. “Self-examination is a biblical concept, but we can be swept too far into this introspection. We need to always examine ourselves in the light of God’s truth, keeping the Gospel at the center of our examination.”

The Lost Art of a Wandering Mind. “The technology boom didn’t exactly wind up creating the kind of world we had seen on The Jetsons. Instead of forming a fascinating world of automation that freed us up to pursue noble interests, technology built a new way of thinking that, sadly, has caused us to think less.”

Don’t Let Envy Poison Your Soul, HT to Challies. “In today’s modern culture, we have been conditioned to nurture envy at anyone who is perceived to be ahead of us on the career, economic, or social ladder. Envy is at the heart of our politics on all sides. Envy fuels the marketing machines. Just watch the ads. Someone owns a product/gadget/service that is making them happy, and you don’t have it. That’s not right, we are told to tell ourselves, I must have it.”

Cartel Violence Gripped a Colombian City. Then Came a Soccer Ministry, HT to Challies. “For two years, one of Saldarriaga’s friends had invited him to a soccer practice that he said was ‘different.’ Christians ran it. Saldarriaga finally relented. He had no idea that decision would change his life. And he had no idea he would be one of countless young men across Medellín who found God at soccer practice during Colombia’s infamous decades of drug cartel violence.”

The Quiet Theology of All Creatures Great and Small, HT to Lois. “We started talking about All Creatures Great and Small over coffee. Not in a ‘let’s analyze this’ way, but more like: Why does this show make me feel calmer? Why does it linger after the credits roll? My friend said it felt like a warm cup of tea while visiting her grandparents. And I heard myself say, almost without thinking, ‘It’s because the show believes small things matter.’ And that instinct, I think, resonates with something deeply Christian.”

Is It Immoral to Be a Trillionaire? “So one side claims that this incredible wealth is evil, while the other claims he’s done nothing wrong. What does the Bible have to say about wealth? Specifically, is having lots of money and being rich evil? To think rightly about this issue, we’re going to look first at what it means that Musk is a trillionaire, then we’re going to look at what the Bible has to say about wealth, and then we’re going to end with a few concluding thoughts.”

While unbelief sees the difficulties, faith sees God between itself and them.–Hudson Taylor.

Laudable Linkage

Posted on June 20, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Here are some good reads found this week:

What to Do When You Really Mess Up. “Have you ever really blown it–made a sinful choice with the potential to destroy your life and possibly the lives of those around you? The story of David in 2 Samuel 11 and 12 offers insight into what we should—and should not—do when faced with our own moral failures.”

When Faith Seems to Fail. This is the summary, outline, and transcript of a message by Adrian Rogers that I heard parts of this week on the radio (the overview and audio are here). The part that especially grabbed my attention was how in Hebrews 11, the first part of the chapter tells of the faith shown by Abraham, Moses, Noah, and others. But then verse 36 says “Others suffered . . . ” mocking, flogging, imprisonment, stoning, death, wandering. Verse 9 says all of them were commended through faith. As Rogers put it, “Some escaped by faith. Some endured by faith.”

We Don’t Hate and Then Harm–We Harm and Then Hate, HT to Challies. “We live in a world of ceaseless conflict. And when we look for the source of that conflict, we often assume it’s hatred. We hate people and then treat them poorly. It’s because we feel contempt toward others that we sin against them. But that’s only half the story. Often it’s the other way around. First, we hurt someone, and only then do we begin to hate them.”

6 Expressions of God’s Kindness in the Prodigal Son Parable. “The father’s response in this parable overflows with compassion, forgiveness, and generosity and mirrors our heavenly Father’s heart toward all of us. No matter the depth of our wandering, God rejoices when we come home. The father’s kindness isn’t expressed in a single moment but unfolds again and again in deliberate and tender ways throughout the story. Jesus gives us a picture of what God’s kindness looks like in motion, revealed through the father’s actions.”

The Gift of Finitude, HT to the Story Warren. “You might accomplish a few more of your goals with a sensible routine in place. But you still can’t do it all. And that’s ok. Finitude is not fallenness. Adam and Eve were created with finitude, and they were declared good. Finitude isn’t a bug of being human; it’s a feature.”

Technology Is Fast, Sanctification Is Slow, and Claude Can’t Do It for You. “What if the inefficiency of creativity is a benefit rather than a drawback, a feature rather than a bug? What if the purpose of creativity is greater than merely generating the output? What if creativity fosters a kind of inner formation that is every bit as important as the work that eventually results from it? What if we turn over to AI a process that is an important part of what it means to be human, and one that is genuinely good for us?”

In It Together. “Almost everything that men and women experience together, we experience differently, but through patience and understanding, listening and talking, through expressing care in all the ways we can think of when we just don’t know how to help each other, we continually send the message, over and over again, through all kinds of trials and troubles: I’m here. We’re in this together.”

Making Family Devotions Work. “While my parents often prayed with us before bed, for the most part anything beyond that wasn’t a part of our normal rhythm of life. I never really understood why not, until I had a family. Then I realized how challenging it is to maintain family devotions.”

10 Phrases to Eliminate from Your Bible Teaching. These are good reminders not only for teaching Bible, but for any kind of speaking or writing and even everyday conversation. Of course, we need to be gracious listeners. Some of these phrases sneak in unaware when the speaker is trying to gather his thoughts. But when we can eliminate them, we make ourselves much easier and more interesting to listen to.

A father is neither an anchor to hold us back nor a sail to take us there,
but a guiding light whose love shows us the way. Author unknown.

Laudable Linkage

Posted on June 13, 2026 by Barbara Harper

For the first time in several weeks, I am caught up with my blog reading! Here are some posts that stood out to me:

Portrait of an Abortionist, HT to Challies. “Dr. Bernard Nathanson was one of the extraordinary few who, upon encountering the truth, decided to defect from the abortion movement that he had helped to found and spend his life defending the pre-born.”

How to Respond When Your Routine Is Disrupted. “When we’re waiting for life to return to some semblance of normalcy, what practical steps can we take to make our days a little easier (or perhaps a bit more bearable)? Although I don’t have many answers, here are a few suggestions drawn from my own experience.”

Hope When You’re Scorching Under Life’s Trials. “The refreshing and restorative power of shade isn’t new. David the psalmist/shepherd wrote about it in Psalm 121. He knew what it was like to sit for hours in the Judean sun, watching his sheep graze. He also knew the value of a well-placed shade tree or drifting cloud. Perhaps this is why he described God as ‘the shade at your right hand.'”

The Aroma of Christ in the Mundane. “Maybe, if you’re like me, it’s easy to understand how Christ’s life and death were a fragrant offering to God. God was pleased with His Son’s perfect life and sacrificial death. What is harder to grasp is that because I am united to Christ by grace through faith, God sees me clothed in Christ’s righteousness and is pleased with me. He not only accepts me because of Christ, but joyfully receives me as His daughter! Furthermore, God uses broken vessels like me to spread the knowledge of Christ to others.”

Virtue Signalling in the Church, HT to Challies. “Is it possible for a Christian to be more concerned about the appearance of godliness in their own lives, rather than the existence of it? To sound like they love God, but deep down actually fear man? To talk of virtuous deeds yet be substantially empty of them? I am living proof that the answer to those questions is yes.”

Nine Marks of a Healthy Paragraph: Suggestions for Improving a Pastor’s Writing, HT to Challies. And not just pastors! “We traffic in words because God has chosen to work through words. From creation to salvation, from his perfect Word to our fallible ones, God loves to turn the lights on through written truth. That’s why we care about words: because we care about souls.”

Discipline is choosing between what you want now,
and what you want most. Abraham Lincoln

Laudable Linkage

Posted on June 6, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good reads found this week:

Steve McQueen, born again, set free, HT to Challies. “Steve McQueen made The Great Escape. But he was sprung by Jesus Christ who made the greatest escape. The actor just pretended to escape from a Nazi POW camp; the Savior conquered hell and death for real. And he saved Steve and me and many other sinners from the hell to come.”

What Does It Mean to Walk by the Spirit? “Walking by the Spirit sounded somewhat vague and unclear. There isn’t a clearly laid out list in Scripture, not “Step 1, do this. Step 2, do that.” Over the past fifteen years I have learned and grown a lot in this area. I think I have a better idea of what walking by the Spirit means, and while it doesn’t mean that stopping sinning is easy, it does mean that it’s possible.”

The Commodification of Christianity. “All of this, the commodification and the gamification and the online communities, ultimately leaves us with a shallow faith. If you teach a generation Christianity through TikToks and Instagram Reels, don’t be surprised if their version of belief has nothing to do with virtue, with how they actually live their lives, and everything to do with what they post, how they label themselves online, what’s on their Story. Don’t be surprised if Christianity becomes nothing but a weapon in the culture war, a cross emoji in a bio.”

What Jesus Does Not Pray. “Jesus does not ask that we will be kept from all trials, all suffering, all sorrows. He prays simply that as we remain here, we will be held firm in the grip of God to carry out his will.”

How to Break a Hurting Heart: Lessons from Job’s Friends. “Job’s friends didn’t set out to wound him; they came to comfort a man who had lost nearly everything. Yet somewhere between his suffering and their explanations, they ended up doing more harm than good.”

Should Christians Flip Tables Like Jesus? HT to Challies. “Scripture tells us to be like Jesus. Does that mean we should call hypocritical leaders “blind fools” and a “brood of vipers” like Jesus does in Matthew 23? Does imitating Jesus mean we should make a whip of cords, curse a fig tree, and flip a table in a temple? Should we make it our goal to do the same? And if not, why not?”

When Discipleship Is Difficult, Start With Delight. “This was my problem: I was looking at discipleship from the wrong perspective. It hadn’t yet clicked that discipleship is more than education and obedience to biblical commands. Discipleship is a matter of the heart. It is about helping others love Who and what we love; learning to delight in the God who delights in us (Zeph. 3:17) as we become like Jesus from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18).”

God’s Many Mercies for Our Many Miseries. “Years ago, a dear friend from church was murdered at her home. I will never forget the wise encouragement our pastor shared at her funeral. He acknowledged our longing to know the answer to the question of ‘why’ this tragedy had occurred. And yet, he insisted, deeper comfort would come through knowing the answer to the question ‘who?’ Who is the God who enters our most horrific tragedies?”

Stop Believing Your Best Years Are Behind You, HT to Challies. “I wonder if we’ve badly misjudged the later years. We frame them as a time to ease up, slow down, and coast toward the finish. I think we have it exactly wrong. What if a man’s later years are meant to be his strongest? What if they’re not for winding down, but for our greatest contribution? If we’ve prepared well, the second half should be when we run our best race.”

The Things I Cried About Yesterday, HT to Challies. “The balm of time and the gift of hindsight show that God knew what He was doing all along. We are short-sighted creatures. We can’t see beyond the present, and we’re really bad judges of the future. How many are the things that are disappointing today that I will be worshipping Him for in a few years?”

The Beauty of the Unnamed, HT to Challies. “There is no story that is insignificant to God. There is no role or purpose that is outside of his profound influence. God is one who sees those who others forget. He sees them and though they are unnamed in the pages of history, they are known by name to him. History has been formed by the faithfulness of the unnamed.”

Whatever the Weather, We’ll Weather the Weather, Whether We Like It or Not. “Contented cheerfulness in hard circumstances is not a personality trait; it’s an intentional choice.”

When I cannot read, when I cannot think, when I cannot even pray, I can trust. James Hudson Taylor

Laudable Linkage

Posted on May 30, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Here are some thought-provoking reads found this week:

What Does It Mean to Be Discerning? “Spiritual discernment is the skill of distinguishing what is true from what is false, what is right from what is wrong, and what is wise from what is foolish. In its fullest form, it is the skill of distinguishing what is true from what is almost true, what is wise from what is wiser still, and what is a matter of absolute right and wrong from what is a matter of conscience or legitimate disagreement.”

Harness the Power of Failure. “You are going to fail at some point in your life. You will probably fail at many things at many points in your life. The question is not whether you will fail, but what you fail at and how you will handle your failure. Believe it or not, failure can be valuable if we think about it and respond to it rightly.”

The Best Way to Resist Temptation, HT to Challies. “People talk about resisting temptation. How exactly does that work? Not very well, in my experience—at least, not if you try to face it head on and just say ‘no’ and ‘no’ and ‘no’ over and over again until you’re worn ragged and hoarse and half-mad from the relentless effort. There is, of course, no way around the fact that resisting temptation requires effort. But I believe there is a better way to focus and expend that effort than to simply lock eyes with your temptation and see who blinks first.”

Rushing Our Quiet Times, HT to Challies. “How long should quiet times take? . . . Lately my answer to this question has become simple: the right length for a quiet time is long enough to be unhurried. An unhurried quiet time means there is enough time to soak in God’s word. Time to savour and meditate on it. Time to explore, to follow a cross-reference. Time to read slowly, to reflect and perhaps memorise some verses. Not rushing allows enough time for God’s word to change us.”

The Most Awkward, Important Part of Prayer, HT to Challies. “If you find yourself skipping a certain element of prayer—Adoration/praise, Confession, Thanksgiving, or Supplication/asking—which one of these is it likely to be? Which one is the most awkward for you? Which one might you find yourself thinking, ‘I’m not sure exactly what to say here,’ and shortening or eliminating that part? I’m going to wager that it’s the first part: Adoration.”

The Lord of the Traffic Jam, HT to Challies. “But none of these statistics are as big a challenge in my daily commute than my own sinful heart. I find that my commute is the most difficult environment in which to remember that I am in fact a Christian. Even in gridlock, I am an ambassador for Christ, called to shine the light of Christ to my half a million neighbours.”

The Genuine Beauty of a Fruitful Life. “Appearances can be copied, but true fruitfulness cannot be manufactured. As Christian women, we can become so deeply dazzled by counterfeit fruit that we lose sight of what God’s kingdom actually values. The beauty of a truly fruitful life is found in faithfulness to the King, whose work in us produces a legacy that endures long after every imitation fades.”

Are You Willing to Show Up? HT to Challies. “Friend, in a world that is disconnected and distant, let’s be the people who show up. Not just once or twice. Not to check off a box for good deed of the day. But to be present. Imperfectly, awkwardly, perhaps even wordlessly, present.”

Actually, Having a Baby Has Slowed Me Down, HT to Challies. “When I was nine months pregnant, a colleague of mine informed me that pregnancy didn’t slow his wife down. Good for her. To be fair, pregnancy barely slowed me down either. I worked out the entire time, kept up with my too-many jobs, submitted my doctoral dissertation, and even recorded the audiobook for Spirit-Filled Singing while dealing with the worst of my first trimester nausea. But having a baby? Having a baby has slowed me down.”

You Can’t Give Your Children What You Don’t Have, HT to Challies. “Look carefully at how the passage is structured: God doesn’t start by saying, ‘Teach your children My words.’ Rather, He starts with the father: ‘These words that I command you today shall be on your heart.’ What a significant and often overlooked foundation. The command to teach your children comes second.”

Does a Promiscuous Past Affect a Christian Marriage? HT to Challies. “There are earthly consequences to sexual sin that can affect a marriage. If I said there weren’t, I’d be a liar. So, let’s look at the claims and understand the true dangers. But if you’re someone who walked a path similar to mine, stick around because there is so much hope. I promise.”

The Dangerous Days Past Middle Age. “I have an image in my mind of the godly old lady I want to be someday: soft-spoken, kind to all, full of wisdom. Having logged half a century under God’s sanctifying sandpaper, I should be well on my way by now. And, taking stock, I can see that I don’t have to rein in my temper as much as I used to, and there’s precious little out there that tempts me to covet. What I am learning, however, is that as I age, I sin differently. Sin is still ‘crouching at the door.’ It just comes in a different form.”

If you’re not hungry for God, what’s ruining your appetite?

Laudable Linkage

Posted on May 23, 2026 by Barbara Harper

It’s probably time for my occasional reminder that these links do not imply complete endorsement.

The Faith of Jacob. “I want to be like Jacob. That might seem like a strange statement if you know the story of Jacob.”

Nathanael, HT to Challies. “On a quiet Friday in 2016, Wanjiku’s world was shattered when her young son, Nathanael, suddenly passed away despite her desperate ‘decrees and declarations’ for a resurrection. In the aftermath of her loss, she was met with a theology that blamed her for ‘opening a door to Satan,’ forcing her to confront a terrifying question: Is God so weak that He can be outmaneuvered by human error?”

What God Is Healing While Not Healing My Health Problems. A number of fellow bloggers have recommended this. “I’ve been praying for the Lord to heal me from significant chronic health problems for a long while now. I will continue to. In the meantime, I marvel at what He IS healing me from through this course of pain…”

Raise Kids to Be Reality Respecters, HT to Challies. “Years ago, my coworker and I were sitting at our desks with the office door open. One of our colleagues walked by with his young daughter, and we overheard him say to her, ‘You can be anything you want to be.’ Instinctively, my office mate and I turned toward each other with our eyebrows raised. Although the fatherly intention behind the inspirational pep talk was good, it just wasn’t true. We can’t be anything we want to be.”

How to Raise Curious Kids in a World Designed to Distract Them, HT to the Story Warren. “Curiosity helps kids learn, adapt and think deeply. Here’s why it matters more than ever and how parents can help it grow.”

Advice for College Graduates, HT to Challies. “For all the full schedules, not everyone who walks across a stage and receives a diploma is entirely settled. The season can bring about a lot of anxiety. Graduates might wonder if they’re the only ones in their class who haven’t figured out what comes next. While others are starting jobs, heading off to graduate school, or embarking on what appear to be clearly defined new paths, there are far more graduates than we might imagine who are quietly asking themselves the same question: What am I supposed to do now?“

The Pastoral Virtue of Avoidance, HT to Challies. Though this is written to pastors, it is good for all of us. “At least seven times in the pastoral epistles, Paul directly charges Timothy and Titus to ‘avoid’ and to ‘have nothing to do with’ ideas and people who pose a threat to their flock. This is jarring since one of the main purposes for these letters is to encourage Timothy and Titus to engage false teaching and teachers. Yet here is where the paradox emerges: Paul teaches a pastoral virtue of avoidance—showing that sometimes the wisest form of engagement is careful restraint.”

This is what detransitioning looks like. Eight stories of regret, HT to Challies. This is from a secular source, but shares that transitioning sexuality didn’t solve people’s main issues.

Encouragement Through Letter-Writing. Writing letters has almost become a lost art. But a timely note or letter can be a great encouragement.

What if God ruined your plans so your plans wouldn’t ruin you? J. C. Ryle

Laudable Linkage

Posted on May 16, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good reads found this week:

So Many Dumb Ways to Die. “By my count, the song offers 21 ways to die, each one dumber than the last. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg, for there are many more ways to die than these—some avoidable or dumb, some unavoidable or heroic, but all tragic. Sadly, humanity has never come to the end of the ways we can die. Yet there is also a sense in which there are merely two ways to die: There is the death of the righteous and the death of the wicked.”

Help Please: The Christian’s Ceaseless Plea, HT to the Story Warren. “Though made in the image of God, these little dustlings are largely helpless, so it’s no wonder they continually ask for help. What should come as a surprise is that we, the ‘grown-up’ children of God, do not avail ourselves of the same ceaseless cry.” This article not only shares wonderful truth, but it’s a lovely piece of writing.

8 Gentle Truths for Exhausted Hearts, HT to Challies. “Do you feel weary from carrying too much? Here are 8 notes I wrote to myself during my 3 month Sabbatical, where I was reflecting on my habit of over-functioning—of being a daughter, wife, mother, worker, church leader, and pastor’s wife who is often driven by an urgency to do better, do more, and do it all.”

Advice on How to “Preach the Gospel” to Yourselves. We used to hear that phrase often, without any explanation as to what was actually meant. I appreciated this unpacking of its meaning and application.

The Gratitude Shift. “It’s a simple concept. In fact, it almost seems trite. How many times throughout life have we been told to be grateful for what we have? Yet, gratitude, even in its most elementary, basic form, works. It causes us to think about our blessings and the Source of our blessings, and in those thoughts we find true affection for God and all that He’s done.”

Is Your Women’s Ministry Accessible to Single Moms? HT to Challies. “When I became a single mom, going to church was the hardest part of my week. After juggling everything for the previous six days, I’d do the heavy lifting of getting to the Sunday morning pew, only to be asked questions about my husband. If I wanted to join any other aspect of church life like a Bible study or ministry team, I felt like I had to move mountains. So when I read that only one in four single moms attends church regularly, I wasn’t surprised.”

In Defense of Purity Culture. “No good deed that a culture or subculture sets out to perform will be without flaw. There were excesses in the movement, and those excesses resulted in real hurt to real people. But I think purity culture was a net good. I think it was on the right track, and I think that the best parts of purity culture should be and have been absorbed by the church as we hold up purity as an ideal for the next generation.”

He knows your case as thoroughly as if you were the only creature he ever made, or the only saint he ever loved. Approach him and be at peace. Charles Spurgeon

Laudable Linkage

Posted on May 9, 2026 by Barbara Harper

I have quite a few good links to share this week. I hope you’ll find some of them of interest.

What Biblical Women Reveal About the Journey To and Through Motherhood. “One seminar I would pay a small fortune to attend would be one on motherhood, led by the mothers in the Bible. I’m not sure if a week would be long enough to learn everything their stories teach us about mothering, about God, even about marriage, but I’d settle for a weekend.”

Don’t Let Her Die Before You Say This. A young believer asks John Piper how to minister to his dying, unbelieving mother. “The best thing I could do is to make the connection between your love for your mother and the love of Christ for you. It seems to me that you already have the right instincts for how to love her, because you say you’re going to stay by her and comfort her, and that you’ve tried to share the gospel with her. And I would urge simply that you keep on doing what you’re already doing, and that you see it as an expression of Christ’s love for you and through you to your mother.”

A Prayer for Graduation Day. A mother’s prayer amidst the mixed emotions when a child graduates.

Not Every Hurt Is Church Hurt: Discerning the Difference, HT to Challies. “Not every pain that happens in a church is ‘church hurt’ as we often frame it. Sometimes it is human sin, human immaturity, and human blindness. If we don’t learn to carefully separate those, we risk letting our wound reshape our entire view of God’s people.”

Your Body is a Temple, So Act, HT to Challies. “It’s one thing to read that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). It’s another thing entirely to believe it and live it. This is especially true in a culture that degrades the body, that consumes the body, that commodifies the body, that abuses the body, that teaches men that women’s bodies are there to be tortured for sexual gratification, that teaches women to torture their bodies for the male gaze, that teaches both sexes to give into their fleshly passions instead of developing chastity.”

What Changed When I Taught My Small Group Leaders to Slow Down. “The most important thing they can do for their group is not to have all the answers. It is to help people see what is on the page. If your group can learn to read carefully before they respond quickly, you have given them something that will shape them long after your group semester ends.”

Searching for a Sign, HT to Challies. “‘God, please give me a sign’, I said quietly, as I stepped outside. I was in the middle of a confusing situation. I didn’t know what to do, or how. I couldn’t see how anything could work out well. I wanted to know that God was near, and involved. I wanted to see a display of his care, and power. I’m not sure what kind of sign I was looking for, exactly.”

The Foundation of Christian Time Management. “Everyone has a motivation for getting stuff done, whether they can name it or not. For most of the world, it’s something like status, money, survival, or career advancement. But for the Christian, the motivation should be categorically different. In fact, if we miss this we are missing Christian productivity altogether. Our motivation is the foundation.”

From Friend to Friend, HT to Challies. “The gospel has always had a way of moving in the most beautiful and ordinary way. Indeed, it has crossed oceans, shaken cities, overturned temples, angered kings, outlived empires, and outburied its enemies. This is fascinating alone, but very often it has moved in the simplest way imaginable, from friend to friend, from brother to brother, from one ordinary conversation to another, from one man saying to another, with whatever mumbling, stumbling, and trembling he could manage, ‘I want to tell you about Christ.'”

5 Things We Lose When We Subtract Evangelism from the Christian Life. HT to Challies. “If we’re ever to overcome our fear of evangelism, not only must we love others more than ourselves, but we must also believe that evangelism’s benefits outweigh any risks involved. But what are the benefits associated with sharing the gospel? Rather, what might we lose if we subtract evangelism from our lives? Here are five things to consider.”

Peacemaker vs. Peacekeeper: Understanding the Biblical Difference. “When Jesus said peacemakers are blessed, He wasn’t calling us to avoid hard conversations. He was calling us to pursue true peace—even when it’s uncomfortable.”

Help Her Go: Why World Missions Needs Women, HT to Challies. “Ever since Mary Magdalene ran from the tomb to tell the disbelieving disciples, ‘He is risen!’ He is born again! God has used women — single and married — to take the good news of Christ’s resurrection to the ends of the earth. Sometimes, however, our sisters face greater difficulties finding acceptance, financial support, and even respect on their way to the field.”

So Much of Parenting Is Just This Simple Easy* Thing, HT to Challies. “So much of parenting is holding the balance, arms stretched across chasms. So much we don’t say;
so much we wish we had. So much I can’t change; probably a lot I should change if I knew better. Swallow my pride, swallow a million words, spare them the lecture and step into the gaping empty room of silence with head nods and ‘Tell me more.'”

More Than Wrinkles: 11 Blessings of Growing Older, HT to Challies. After reading a native post about aging, the author began to “think about what the blessings of aging could be, and also of what our biblical response must be. Is this just a cruel joke at end our life – that of getting old? Has God forsaken us who are over 60? No!!!”

Faith of our mothers, living still
In cradle song and bedtime prayer;
In nursery lore and fireside love,
Thy presence still pervades the air.
-From “Faith of Our Mothers”
by Arthur Bardwell Patten