a blog recommendation: treasure from the junk drawer

A good friend of mine recently started a blog.

I’ve enjoyed every one of her posts, which isn’t surprising because I enjoy any bit of time I get to spend with her and reading her blog is like getting to spend a little time with her.

She calls it Treasure from the Junk Drawer and you’ll definitely find some treasure if you visit there.

What’s your favorite blog to read?  Or, what lesser-known blog would you recommend?

two things: one year of blogging and healthcare reform

I’ve now been blogging for over a year.

Wowser.  I started in mid-November last year and have blogged an average of three times per week.  That seems like a lot to me.  Of course, when I started I posted frequently– four or five times a week; now I’m doing well if I get two in.

I’ve enjoyed it and benefitted from it.  I’ve fought against the particular sins that blogging has made me prone to (or revealed in me) and come out better for it, although still always having to be on guard.

My goals have been twofold: primarily to refine and test my thoughts and opinions regularly according to godly, gospel standards.  And secondarily, to edify the body through that.  I think, by God’s grace, that has happened in some measure.

Still, I’m trying to decide where to go from here.  Do I keep blogging?  Do I take a break?  Do I quit altogether?  I think God could be glorified in any of those options.  So, I’m thinking about it, talking to Mr. TommyD, and leaning on the Holy Spirit to convict in the areas where conviction is needed and also feeling freedom in Him to make a decision.

So that’s that on a year of blogging.  And if I decide to take a break or quit, I won’t just drop off without notice.  I’ll give a heads up.  As of now, I’m going to keep writing as it’s beneficial for me.

Next up, healthcare reform.

My dad gave a talk about it a week ago and I thought I’d link to it because it was really good.  It looks at the history of medicine and provides a foundation for understanding the current debate according to godly, ethical standards.  It’s not short.  But brevity and understanding history rarely go hand in hand.  Sometimes it takes more than 22 words to get your point across.  I hope some of you will invest your time in reading it.

autumn resolutions

I’ll let Pastor John say it better than I could:

“God approves of New Year’s resolutions. And mid-year, and three-quarters-year, and monthly, and weekly, and daily resolutions. Any and all resolutions for good have God’s approval—if we resolve by faith in Jesus.

I would like to encourage you to make some autumn resolutions. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Well, theexamined life is not worth living either if the examination produces no resolutions. What examination and experience teach us is that the unplanned life settles into fruitless routine. The drifting life—the coasting, que-sera-sera, unreflective life—tends to be a wasted life.

The opposite of this is self-examination—life-examination, routine-examination, schedule-examination, heart-examination—followed by “resolves for good.” That’s what I encourage you to do. Here’s why I think God will be pleased when you do this by faith in Jesus.

Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12,

“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

I find this extremely encouraging. Paul prays for us—and I pray for you even as I write this—that God will “fulfill every resolve for good” that we have. This means that it is good to have resolves. God approves of it. It also means that our resolving is important, but that God’s enabling us to “fulfill” the resolves is crucial. Paul wouldn’t pray if God’s help weren’t needed. “The heart of manplans [resolves!] his way, but the Lord establishes [fulfills!] his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

But it matters how we resolve. When Paul says, “every resolve for good and every work of faith,” he is not describing two different acts. He is describing one act in two ways. It is a “resolve for good” because we will it. It is a “work of faith” because we depend on Jesus to give us power to fulfill it. That’show we resolve—by faith in Jesus.

So Paul says that the fulfilling of the resolve is “by his power.” That’s what we are depending on. That’s what we are looking for when we resolve. We are looking to Jesus who promised to be with us and help us. “I know that through . . . the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance” (Philippians 1:19).

This explains the words “so that” in Paul’s prayer: “…so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you.” When you resolve something good and trust in the power of Jesus to help you do it, then “the name of our Lord Jesus is glorified.” If you depend on your willpower, your name will be glorified.

So Christian resolutions are different from the world’s resolutions. We believe that by grace alone we have been “called”—that is, captured by the truth and beauty of Christ. We resolve things not to make God be for us, but because he is already for us—that’s what his call makes plain. He opens our eyes to see and trust Christ. He shows us, in the cross, that he is totally for us. All our resolves are to walk more worthily of this calling.

They are faith resolves—faith that we are loved and called and justified. And faith that therefore Jesus will help us do what we resolve to do. When we resolve like that, the name of our Lord Jesus is magnified.

So pause sometime soon. Pause and examine your life this autumn. Examine what is missing that should be there. What is there that should be removed? What new dreams for ministry might you venture? What new habits do you want to build into your Fall schedule?

Remember: God will be pleased with new resolves for good if you resolve by faith in Jesus. I am praying for you “that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power.’”

Are you making any resolutions this fall?  I’ll leave mine in the comments.

gospel in ten words or less

Demian, over at Fallen and Flawed (great blog, by the way), asked 12 bloggers, including me, to summarize the Gospel in 10 words or less.

It was a tough one for me, but here’s my response:

“Jesus’ blood calls, converts, cleanses, cures, carries the once condemned.”

How would you summarize the greatest story ever told if you only had 10 words to do it?  One of the bloggers, Kevin DeYoung, did it in three words.  Whoa.  Go over to the original post to see how he did it (and who he was quoting)!

I found it to be a great exercise.  Thinking about the Gospel (and talking about the Gospel and writing about the Gospel, etc) is the most important thing I do each day.  I am never not in need of the Gospel.  It’s the Gospel that’s brought me through the last couple weeks and is bringing me through today and will one day carry me home.

So take this opportunity to meditate on the big stuff of the Gospel.  And leave your summary in 10 words or less in the comments.

Randy Alcorn’s blog: a great find for biblical wisdom, esp. about finances

I’m so excited to have found Randy Alcorn’s blog.

He is the author of Money, Possessions and Eternity, a very influential book for Mr. TommyD and me.  I think that book, coupled with the “wartime lifestyle” preaching of our church, helped Mr. TommyD and I to set our financial priorities Godward early on in our marriage.  I recommend it to anyone needing a dose of Biblical truth regarding their perspective on finances and the kingdom of God.

I first read this Q & A article, Paying Down Debt and Giving, a couple weeks ago and I thought he handled it beautifully.  Here’s the gist of the dilemma faced by the questioner:

We have been counseled in a number of ways on this [meaning facing a large amount of debt]. One is that you continue giving SO THAT God will meet your need (which is much like the “prosperity gospel” and we believe the motive for giving is not right). Then we were taught that we need to be faithful, even if the budget is tight, to give at least 10%, and that that should be our FIRST check we make out each month (even if we know we won’t make our other bills) as evidence of the priority of God and His church in our lives. We’ve also heard it taught that since we’re in debt, our money is not our own so we need to work really hard to pay that back so that our money is freed to give back to God.

Mr. Alcorn responds with uncompromising truth from God’s Word that commands us always to give our first fruits to God, whether in debt or not.  Here’s his finally summary (although it’s worth reading the whole thing):

To change the direction of our lives we need to prayerfully make wise decisions, and nothing is wiser than giving first to God, cutting back our expenditures wherever we can, and systematically paying off our debts to others, having placed ourselves through our faithful giving under God’s blessing instead of His curse. I wish you the best as you experience the adventure of God’s faithful provision when you are committed to being His faithful steward.

It was a great reminder and encouragement to me, as was his post from yesterday called, How to Live Wisely Financially. 

So, whether you’re having financial trouble or not, his blog is sure to offer Biblical wisdom in many areas of life.  Check it out.

for lack of wisdom…

For my regular readers you may or may not be wondering why I haven’t posted yet today, as I usually do on Friday.

I had my 4 wisdom teeth out yesterday, and today has been pretty rough.   So, even though I thought I’d be able to hammer out a post while feeling a bit miserable, I wasn’t able to until now.

So, my apologies.

And here are 4 quick reasons why getting your wisdom teeth out before you’re an “adult” is wise:

1) Your parents pay for it.

2) You have no responsibilities to manage while you’re feeling crumby.

3) By the time you’re an adult, you’ll either have forgotten most of it, or have a good story to tell.

4) And, if you get it done early, you won’t procrastinate about it later, when they’re causing you actual trouble.

I know, pretty lame post.  But what can I say, I am lacking in wisdom of late.  

If I’d have been really wise, I’d have planned my post ahead, as I sometimes do, then wouldn’t have come to this point of writing a short desperate little post about something no one really wants to hear about anyway.

Oh well.

so, what are you good at?

Over at 22 Words, Abraham’s post is titled, “What are you better at than other people?…Now you know what you should do for them.”  And here are his ever-brief 22 words:

It’s arrogant to revel in your superiority.

But that’s different than reveling in the opportunity your superiority gives you to serve others.

And so, I’d like to know.  What are you gifted at?  If it eases your way to telling me, I’ll give you a few things I’m good at: having people over, encouraging people (usually my kids nowadays), and gulping large amounts of information.

I don’t have any delusions of grandeur when I say those things.  For all things are from him and through him and to him.  He is over all things and in him all things hold together.  He gets the glory for any giftings I have.  

Same goes for you!  So go ahead and let us know what gifts the Creator has been pleased to bestow on you.

Do you use your gifts for the good of the Body?  

And if you’re a regular reader over at 22 Words, but don’t like commenting there because there are just too many comments, feel free to share here, in this more intimate setting. :)

my first meme and a tangent

My friend over at The Responsible Puppet introduced me to the concept of a meme, so I thought I’d try one here.  I’d never heard of it, so if you haven’t either, here’s a definition:

meme: n.   A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.

Basically, I’m asking you a question about a culturally relevant “thing,” and you answer and can pass on the action to someone else (or not).  A side note, I CANNOT stand chain letters or guilt letters, as they should be called.  So if the “pass on the action” part of this in anyway reminds you of a guilt-inducing chain letter, disregard it and just have fun answering a silly question.

One more thing on chain letters, I don’t believe them.  Not any of them (I don’t question the motives of the friend who sent it to me, just the originator of it).  I recently got one that was a prayer chain letter that you had to sign and pass on to 5 or 10 people and my first thought was that it was a hoax.  My two cents is, if it is a real prayer concern, don’t use chain letters as your mode of passing it around.  I just feel manipulated and annoyed.   Enough.  Here’s the meme:

List the song or songs you would sing at your American Idol audition.

You get bonus points for:

-naming multiple songs

-naming songs that might cause you embarrassment or would surprise those who think they know you.

-naming your favorite judge

-telling what you think the judges would say

I would sing Dixie Chicks, Wide Open Spaces or Queen, Find Me Somebody to Love, or Billy Joel, For the Longest Time.  My favorite judge is Simon, but I like the new Cara too.  And I think they would tell me that I was boring, lacking personality, forgettable.  But, who knows, maybe they’d think I was great?

Credits: Thanks, Scott, for the idea and format!

the bread of blogging

Recently at my church’s MOMS group someone was reading from Proverbs 31.  

A common occurrence.  One that can frequently cause cringing.  Which I believe happens because we all think we’re supposed to be a replica of that woman.  I could write an entire piece here on why I think that is not (entirely) true.  And why I think it’s ok if we aren’t seeking wool and flax and planting a vineyard.  

I’ll save that for another day, suffice it to say that the woman in Proverbs 31 was one example of godliness.  Not every example.  

So, back to the point.  We were (rightly) exhorted through Proverbs 31:27  not to “eat the bread of idleness.”  And I’ve heard women express their desire to be productive and busy at home coupled with their conviction that online time is not part of “looking well to the ways of their household.”  I don’t want to discourage them from this conviction.  If the Lord is showing this to them, it is probably a problem.

On the other hand, I have also sensed some shame or embarrassment among women who read blogs or are on facebook.  Usually this is how the conversation goes:

Me:  ”Are you on facebook?”

other Mom : “Oh, yes, (initial excitement) it is so much fun to connect with people.  I found my old friend from HS and have been able to chat with her!  But I know it can be addicting (embarrassment sets in).  I’m actually not on it very often.  I try to limit my time.”

Or like this,

other Mom: “(whispering) I read your blog the other day.”

Me: “Oh, really?  Thanks.  I hope you enjoyed it.”

other Mom: “Yes, I really like the piece about ‘x’.  (more expounding on finer points of agreement and disagreement, fruitful and thoughtful conversation ensues).  

other Mom: “Have you ever read ‘blank person’s’ blog?  It’s really good, also I like “x” blog.  

Me: “No, I haven’t.  Those sound great!”  

other Mom: (embarrassed) Well, I try not to spend too much time doing that.  I only check like… once a week or so… at the most.”

I share these conversations to make a point.  Online time is not bad or good in and of itself.  It can be bad or good.  You might do your devotions and Bible-reading online.  Or you might waste hours playing a video game.  

I’m praying that this blog falls more in line with the former example.  I want this to be a place to come and be refreshed by another Christian.  The act of blogging is spiritually refreshing and beneficial for me.  So I hope the act of reading it will be something similar for you.  

I don’t want my readers to feel guilty for the 5-10 minutes they might spend here everyday or every couple days.  I want it to be a place of receiving gracious words “like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body,” or where we “discover good” together by giving “thought to a matter.” (Proverbs 16:24 & 20)

But, lest I get too lofty, I also hope it is simply a breath of fresh air, perhaps a laugh, or a moment to pause.

Welcome to your guilt-free blog zone.