microblog
Memorizing the Westminster Shorter Catechism is one of the best things you can do. Read this article in New Horizons to get some inspiration and see how one of our families at Covenant is getting after it. Way to go!
We got to watch Sound of Freedom tonight. Go see this movie! Generous people have even provided free tickets.
Do We Actually ‘Hear’ Silence? | Scientific American
Does the brain actually “hear” silence as an input processed by its auditory system in the same way it does a car horn? Or does the organ instead infer these empty spaces by inserting place markers between sounds that are then perceived as the silent bits?
One time I was in an informal class with Yo-Yo Ma. He told us to “play the rests.”
If you like J. C. Ryle’s writing, you will want to read his recommendation of the puritan Thomas Manton. As Ryle explains his admiration for Manton, you also get a sense of what makes Ryle tick, and what he thinks makes a good man, writer, theologian, and preacher. It’s an inspiring portrait.
Listening to Tanto Tempo by Bebel Gilberto and waiting for the monsoons to samba over Tucson. 🎵
I took this picture of a balloon man in Eugene, OR. He was giving life and purpose to balloons in order to bless others. God does this when he re-forms people in Christ—“we are his workmanship”. If your life right now involves some painful twists and turns, consider: could God be re-forming you?
One of my all time fav things is Growing Native by Petey Mesquitey. These 5 min. celebrations of life in the borderlands have storytelling like G.K’s news from Lake Wobegon but are true and have more cactus. Long time fans will enjoy the Tucson Sentinel’s recent profile of the man behind the mic.
Want to fight perfectionism and dementia while boosting confidence and creativity? Do things you’re bad at.
Fred Sanders considers the doctrine of God found in the Declaration of Independence.
American citizenship gives a person many valuable rights, but maintaining those rights requires Americans to fulfill certain obligations. Consider this a little more via Hans Zeiger’s review of The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens by Richard Haass. 📚 🤝 🇺🇸
Here’s my first try at painting with watercolor. It was fun and I’d like to learn more. Painters, what’s a great book to get me started? 🎨
I explored the themes of loneliness and solitude in a recent pair of sermons. The first is on the sorrow of loneliness in Psalm 102; the second considers the godly practice of seeking solitude through Jesus’ example. I hope they are helpful to you.
If your the kind of person that just wants things to work, you might want to get off the internet superhighway for a while. Get some snacks, stretch your legs and take the dog for a walk. Because before Web 3.0 is built out, we’re going to struggle with a lot of construction, bad drivers, and getting lost. It’s going to be rough.
James Vincent explains what is happening in his article, “AI is killing the old web, and the new web struggles to be born.”
Jacob Phillips writes about an often unidentified cause of the crisis of loneliness.
Good News from Iran: A Million New Christian Believers [via RCL]
The house church participants, including recent converts, know very well that the aftermath of such raids can also be perilous: continuing threats of violence, lost employment, expulsion from school or university, confiscated cash, and the endangerment of other family members. And everyone knows that sexual violence against a mother, wife, girlfriend, or daughter is likely to follow. Still, with all this in mind, Iranian house church Christians are extraordinarily courageous.
Bruce Waltke and Fred Zaspel offer some good pointers on how (and how not) to read the Psalms.
An interesting aspect of presbyterianism in the OPC: congregations fund denominational work (like the General Assembly) directly instead of through the presbyteries. While there are weaknesses and strengths to this arrangement, it does reflect the kind of independence and interdependence that congregations have in the OPC.