I know you understand. Posts will be catch as catch can but there will be updates so do check back. I am seriously considering an occasional open thread on an edifying subject so if you have suggestions for such threads please post in the comments below. Many thanks–KSH.
What about, following up on the great post about St. John, folks sharing, at not too great a length, how they came to know Christ?
And, Kendall, hope you get some rest!
Kendall, a suggestion for positive focus on this thread: What if we followed the line given us by Jeremiah: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.” (Jer. 31:27-30. ESV)?
What if we assume that that the days of plucking up and breaking down are drawing to a close and the days of building and planting are upon us, what then are we building and planting? What do we see the Lord establishing among us? To follow another Jeremiah moment in the next chapter: where are we buying the field in Anathoth and saying, ‘Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land’ (Jer. 32:15)?
Kendall, have a great break! May the Lord grant you and your family rest & refreshment & strength.
Always enjoy a “good books you’ve read recently” thread.
Maybe a chance to share testimonies of answered prayer / what we’re thankful for – especially important in these days of trials and discouragement in the world that we remind ourselves consciously & often of God’s goodness & faithfulness.
Always glad for folks to share links to resources / articles they’ve found helpful (sermons, devotionals, resources for discipleship). Perhaps also it would be helpful to compile links to good resources related to how to teach about marriage and prepare & strengthen families & churches in the wake of the Obergefell decision.
Kendall I always appreciate learning people’s summer reading, especially novels and poetry I have not gotten around to. So I’ll throw out my recommendation.
Some good friends in St Louis urged me to read Cormac McCathy’s western novels. I am now almost finished with Blood Meridian and will start his Border Trilogy next week. BM is an apocalyptic western and the chief character, named the “judge” is an anti-christ figure who leads his paramilitary “religious” order into the borderlands of Mexico to collect the scalps of Native Indians…and it devolves from there. The writing is mesmerizingly beautiful, which is absolutely necessary to keep me plodding through the graphically, gut numbingly violent narrative.
There is something redemptive about the reading experience but can’t quit put my finger on it just yet. I’m hoping the Border Trilogy will help me figure out what I like about this novelist, beyond his beautiful and memorable powers of description