Hello! It’s been quite a season, and this week we resume a feature that debuted months ago. A travelogue is “a movie, book, or illustrated lecture about the places visited and experiences encountered by a traveler.” While traveling the Interwebs, here’s what I’ve encountered recently (or not-so-recently), and commend to you. Here are some essentials for the journey.
So Many Options!
Barry Cooper – Beware the god of Open Options:
“He kills our relationships, because he tells us it’s better not to become too involved. He kills our service to others because he tells us it might be better to keep our weekends to ourselves. He kills our giving because he tells us these are uncertain financial times and you never know when you might need that money. He kills our joy in Christ because he tells us it’s better not to be thought of as too spiritual.”
Call-down-fire Christianity
Kari and I are collaborating on a new podcast, and she’s the voice, I’m the tech help and will sometimes chime in. Two episodes in (see clip above from #2), want to say this has been a long time in the making. For the next while episodes of the Kari Patterson Podcast will feature themes from a book she’s been working on, The Second Mile. What’s the podcast about? …
We need wisdom, y’all. Like, yesterday. Right?! We need God’s perspective. We need His heart. We need joy, resilience, clarity, and conviction. Feeling this need, author Kari Patterson opens Scripture and shares candidly how God’s Word informs her daily life. Appropriate for all ages, relatable and refreshing, join Kari for conversations on responding to unkindness, emotional freedom, parenting dilemmas, self-pity, forgiveness, and more.
Episode #4 released this week: Essential Chords. Listen:
Maybe a few had an inkling, but for the most part, no one knew 2020 would be like this. What a great reminder that only God knows the future, and therefore only God knows how to prepare you for the future. In this episode Kari shares a few experiences that gave her a heightened sense of urgency about The Second Mile, and why we need to be prepared.
Available most all the places you enjoy podcasts:
Flashback to 2020: A Year Without Hindrances
“We’ll have plenty of hindrances [in 2020], but none too great for God’s love and power to overcome.”
—BENJAMIN VRBICEK, “NEITHER SIN NOR DEATH NOR ELECTIONS CAN HINDER GOD’S WORK IN 2020“
Coming back to this late 2019 article by Benjamin Vrbicek, as we have all experienced plenty of hindrances in 2020 AND these words are still true!
What about the 2020 election?
The issues are more, and politics are multi-sided. Justin Gibney, co-founder of the AND Campaign was interviewed by Skye Jethani on the Holy Post podcast:
- Read the 2020 statement from the AND Campaign [PDF version]
- A good read for this election year (and referenced in the interview): Compassion (&) Conviction: The AND Campaign’s Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement by Justin Giboney, Michael Wear, and Chris Butler
What is the role of Christians in civic discourse and elections? I don’t have many answers but want to share some from this journey. Identity politics is an idol my friends. Personally I’ve noticed the deep pain and anguish experienced by many, especially those in minority communities, which is being mainly exploited by one political party and mostly ignored by another. Followers of Jesus can do better, for our sisters and brothers have all been made in God’s image. It’s not us vs. them. And Jesus offered Himself to make for Himself a people from all people groups.
And they sang a new song:
You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slaughtered,
and you purchased people
for God by your blood
from every tribe and language
and people and nation.
You made them a kingdom
and priests to our God,
and they will reign on the earth.—Revelation 5:9-10
Baptizing Babies? (This one’s a hug, not a punch.)
This scholarly article by Gavin Ortlund (Themelios journal volume 45, issue 2 [pdf]) feeds my inner theology nerd, and so clicking makes me happy as do the forty-six footnotes. It’s not just that I agree with the author, but also how he deftly approaches the subject: “Why Not Grandchildren? An Argument Against Reformed Paedobaptism”
Ortlund, a baptist (credobaptist) pastor with a presbyterian (paedobaptist) pastor father adds to final footnote: “I have benefitted from countless conversations with paedobaptist friends over the last 12 years during which this argument has crystalized in my mind.” While I agree with Gavin’s conclusion it is especially the method of this study and the tone and rigor in which he engages theology here that I especially commend to you.
Travelpixels: riding light in the dark.
I like riding bikes. This Summer I’ve ridden more than ever, partly due to a back injury that keeps me from running. Truly the only time sitting isn’t uncomfortable is while on the saddle upon two wheels. #rideon
My Dad and brothers taught me to ride a bike. Today on our Dad’s 76th birthday I thought about him & wept happy-sad tears in missing him, and so when a rock in the road caused a flat tire (first in ~1K miles) it was memories with of life with my Dad — ever-fixing, teaching, patiently enduring, always encouraging — that urged me eagerly through that obstacle on home. Grateful for my Dad, and for being a Dad. #renewrecreate
