Laudable Linkage

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Barbara Harper

Here are some noteworthy reads from the last week:

I Weep for Miley and some follow-up thoughts on comments and criticisms of the post.

What Would Jesus Say to Miley Cyrus? I don’t agree with every little point here, but the majority of it is very good.

Mom vs. Mom: The War I didn’t See Coming. Excellent post.

I have been very happy to see a number of posts lately on preaching and teaching relative to how to do one’s secular work as unto the Lord and to find value in in for His sake. For years the only thing I heard about vocation in church was the urge to surrender to “full-time Christian service,” and that is indeed a noble calling, but it is not everyone’s calling, though we are all called into full-time Christian service in a sense. Anyway – off the soapbox for now. 🙂 Here are a couple of posts along these lines. The second one was especially good I thought.

5 Ways Pastors Can Affirm Faith, Calling, and Vocation.

You Do Not Labor in Vain.

Oh Sweet Lorraine and Missing Hope. A man in his 90s wrote a song for his wife, who had passed away, and sent it into a song contest. It didn’t fit the parameters of the contest, but the company involved had the song professionally recorded for him. So sweet to see his reaction to hearing it. But Challies points out that, touching as it it, there is no mention of the hope that can comfort and sustain us in our losses, and I hope this dear man finds that.

Knowing vs Feeling in Worship.

Cultivating the Habit of Prayer. Great tips.

When You Feel Resentful About Homemaking.

Compelling Conversion, thoughts on the book The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. I reviewed it here, but he includes some points that also spoke to me but I didn’t articulate.

School Is No Place For a Reader. If this kind of thing is going on nation-wide, it’s really sad and doesn’t bode well for our country.

And for a smile, or several: 19 Photos of Hilarious Home Improvement Fails.

Have a great weekend!

Laudable Linkage

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Barbara Harper

Here are some noteworthy reads from the last few weeks:

Why You Can Trust Your Bible despite differences in texts.

The Amalekite Genocide. God’s command to wipe out the Amalekites is used as ammunition against Christianity by atheists and is troublesome to Christians. Here is a thoughtful article about God’s possible reasons for it.

Where does brokenness drive you? I pondered this for a long time after reading it. It’s kind of popular in blogging right now to expose our failings in the name of transparency and lean heavily on grace, and that’s not wrong. I think perhaps it started as a reaction against appearing to have too picture-perfect a life to readers. But do we sometimes wallow in our failures and presume upon grace? We are all broken in some respects, and grace provides for blessed forgiveness, but it doesn’t stop there.

Indispensable. No one is. Beautiful.

21 Spiritual Things to Pray for Other Christians. It’s easy to pray for physical needs, but we sometimes neglect these spiritual needs.

Dear Disillusioned Christian Girl.

Stories That Lead By Example. Sometimes a story explains things better than an explanation. “I believe stories can broaden our empathy, helping us to love. They tell us we’re not alone. But they can also give us something to live up to, whetting our appetite for virtues we don’t yet have.”

To Moms of One or Two Children. Feeling overwhelmed and finding God’s grace sufficient no matter how many you have.

Richard Baxter on Educating Children.

Three Things You Don’t Know About Your Children and Sex. They probably know more than you think they do, and from dangerous sources. This is not a new problem, but the Internet exponentially increases the availability of unwholesome sources of information.

Are we doing the Lord’s work? Questions for web sites set up specifically to expose a leader’s sins.

The 5 Worst Books For Your Children. Interesting thoughts.

23 Signs You’re Secretly an Introvert.

18 Fun Things To Do Before Going Back to School. I think most students have already, but these are still fun ideas.

And something to bring you a smile:

Have a great weekend!

Laudable Linkage and Quotes

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Barbara Harper

Here are a few noteworthy reads from the last week:

How to keep Millennials in the church? Let’s keep church un-cool, written by a Millenial. “What I need is something bigger than me, older than me, bound by a truth that transcends me and a story that will outlast me; basically, something that doesn’t change to fit me and my whims, but changes me to be the Christ-like person I was created to be.”

Is Glory God’s Only Goal?

When you think your love story is boring. It’s not like in the movies: it’s better.

The Courage to Keep Going. Another benefit of stories. Especially like the third paragraph from the bottom.

A Fleshy Assessment: Ten Questions to Ask Yourself. Convicting.

And a couple of quotes that have inspired me:

Every new duty calls for more grace than I now possess, but not more than is found in Thee, the divine treasury in whom all fullness dwells. To Thee I repair for grace upon grace, until every void made by sin be replenished and I am filled with all Thy fullness. ~Valley of Vision

“If, thinking of your frailty, you hold yourselves cheap, value yourselves by the price that was paid for you.” ~ Augustine

“Sometimes God doesn’t change your situation because He’s trying to change your heart.” Unknown

Have a great weekend!

Laudable Linkage

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Barbara Harper

Here are some thought-provoking reads from the last couple of weeks:

Just Obey. Why grace-focused, gospel-centered churches and individuals don’t need to shy away from the word or the concept.

On Loneliness: A Letter to My Children. Poignant.

Ordinary Christians and a Great Commission. “So many of today’s bestselling Christian books…tell us we ought to live extraordinary lives, crazy and above-and-beyond lives. Some of these authors tacitly (or even blatantly) suggest that ordinary must be synonymous with apathetic and that all these comparative and superlative terms–this-er, that-er–are synonymous with godly. But when I look to the Bible I just don’t see it.”

Embrace Sufferer’s For the Things They Offer You rather than avoiding them in fear.

Faith in Fiction – the need for it, and for current examples of it.

Why Story Warren. “This feeling of –incredibly, out of nowhere– finding an ally in the struggle of our lives, is unforgettable. Even in a tale…How sweet it is when we discover a story, a record, a movie, or a play where our kids are seeing the very best of truth, beauty, and goodness. We see the truth we are longing for them to latch on to neither subverted, nor sanitized to death, but upheld. We feel there is someone on our side. It’s not a minefield; it’s the cavalry!” Just discovered this site yesterday and have had fun poking around. Janet, I think you’d like it.

Why I Don’t Drink.

Fruit of the Spirit Resources for Children’s Ministry, HT to Annette, who created a resource of her own as well. I’ve started studying the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians and want to look into some of these for my own information.

Looking Forward to the Reward. We can feel it is not quite right to serve God with thought of reward, but God tells us about rewards for a reason.

8 Ways to Just Keep Writing.

A Daily Dose of Faith for Writers. Love the opening quote about Jan Karon’s portrayal of Father Tim’s “everyday faith.”

And my book-loving friends will agree with this, HT to Carrie:

Hope you have a great weekend!

Laudable Linkage

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Barbara Harper

Here are some interesting reads from the last couple of weeks:

8 Evangelism Lessons From an Unlikely Convert.

Gospel-Centered Counsel For Moms. “So often, in our sincere desire to be gospel-centered, we skip over a biblical diagnosis and assume we know what the problem is.” Excellent post.

When Your Friend Is Paralyzed With Fear.

How Cancer Changed Me For Good.

When You’ve Lost Your Joy in the Midst of Marriage and Motherhood.

Help for the Blindsided, when a past sin blindsides you with shame and sorrow.

Sanctification In the Season of Singleness.

Bosses Don’t Give Gold Stars — and Other Career Advice.

DOMA and the Rock.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Laudable Linkage and Video

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Barbara Harper

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done this, but here is some interesting reading from the last few weeks:

How My Mother’s Radical Views Tore Us Apart. Fascinating article about how a famous feminist’s daughter felt about her mother’s mothering, and how she values being a mother even though her own mother called it “servitude.” It’s not from a Christian standpoint and I wouldn’t completely endorse everything in it, but it is eye-opening.

What the Doc Teaches that Pastor. Not just for pastors. “There’s no glory and no transformation in a message people do not understand.”

A Call to Live Like People Matter. “It means considering the tasks on your to-do list less important than the people you’re doing them for.”

The Church: The Manifold Wisdom of God. “Though I am deeply troubled by the state of segments of God’s Church, Paul teaches that it is through this broken and dysfunctional instrument that God is going to show others the variety of His wisdom.”

Believing the Gospel For Our Friends. When sharing struggles with friends, some can be too harsh, some can be too soft. This shares how a true gospel outlook can help us strike the right balance.

When Separation Clouds the Gospel. While acknowledging that there is a time for Biblical separation, the author warns that unbiblical separation does harm.

On the home front: Why I Make My Bed {10 Reasons I Keep My House Clean}

This spoof cracks me up, especially as our church is splitting up into small groups on Sunday nights over the summer – though not like this one!

Laudable Linkage

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Barbara Harper

Here are just a few good reads from the last couple of weeks:

Examine Your Profession of Faith.

Speaking the Truth in Love. “Truth becomes hard if it is not softened by love; love becomes soft if it is not strengthened by truth.”

Idolizing Worship. “A true worshiper is not a consumer or a spectator. A true worshiper is one who is personally engaged with God in spirit and truth. The means of our worship is not Christ’s point of emphasis….In general we devote ourselves to building up the church, not simply pursuing an idealized experience that makes us feel as if we’ve worshiped.”

Slowing Down rather than rushing and hurrying children.

Sync Free Audiobooks. Sync is offering a couple of different audiobooks for free each week through the summer, several classics among them.

Why I Think You Should Break the Blogging Rules.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Laudable Linkage

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Barbara Harper

I don’t know if this will matter to anyone but me, but I used to label my Laudable Linkage posts with all the different topics covered. The only problem with that was when I went to look through a particular category, there would be a lot of “Links” posts, and it was hard to find and skim through my own posts. I didn’t want a reader searching through the categories to face the same thing, so I created a separate Laudable Linkage category for these types of posts and I’m in the process of changing the tags on the old ones.

On to my collection of interesting reads from the last couple of weeks:

Tim Bosna and Evil’s Smile. The last paragraph is a helpful perspective when unthinkable and insensible evil happens.

Where Was God?

Forgive Us These Faults.

5 Things Every Christian Should Know. Or remind ourselves of.

Aiming at Heaven.

Why Going to Church on Sunday Is an Act of War.

To Ron and Shelly Hamilton’s Church on the death of their son. Good advice when a church member is grieving.

5 Ways We Grow.

The Difference Between Original Autographs and Original Texts of Scripture.

4 Ways to Be Like Nana Lois from II Timothy 1:5

10 Ways to Encourage a Missionary, HT to Kim.

Why Christian Writers Should Keep Writing, HT to Laura.

An Invitation to Old-fashioned Blogging, sharing our simple stories, before “branding” became a part of blogging, HT to Susanne.

A delicate subject matter – toilets in Japan from missionary friend Kim. I find these things fascinating. Note the last one with the sink on top of the toilet, so the water from washing your hands goes to fill the tank. One thing I’ve never understood about bidets – I’ve never used one, but you know how with a air hand dryer, your hands never get completely dry….? Seems like that would be a problem with bidet dryers as well. I’m glad they have alternate western-style toilets in airports there! Even in the US, I’m always glad to get back to my very own bathroom. 🙂

Enough of that – here’s a fun way to make a bear-faced pancake:

This cat must be thinking, “Make. It. Stop.”

Have a great weekend!

Laudable Linkage

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Barbara Harper

Here are some interesting reads from the last couple of weeks:

The Boundaries of Evangelism. I’ve been coming across what he’s talking about here, elements of mysticism creeping into evangelicalism, so this was a timely read, though I’m not of a Reformed denomination and believe you don’t have to be Reformed to be Evangelical.

Some Things You Should Know About Women and the Old Testament. Excellent treatment of passages that many find troubling.

Building An Effective Scripture Journal.

The New Legalism. “How the push to be ‘radical’ and ‘missional’ discourages ordinary people in ordinary places from doing ordinary things to the glory of God.”

Mommy. Sweet post about becoming Mommy and then Mom.

An open letter to pastors {A non-mom speaks about Mother’s Day}

Why Reading That Novel Makes You Smarter, More Empathetic, and Closer to God.

10 Texts That Will Make You Appreciate Mom. Funny.

This is cute – a baby duck trying to stay awake. Though I don’t know why it’s in a classroom.