Week In Review #2

After an extended hiatus (can you have a hiatus a week after just starting something 2 weeks ago?) due to my wife being out of town and watching the kids, Week in Review is back. Here are some resources and recommendations from the first week in October, 2018. 

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Earthquake and Tsunami in Indonesia - "The twin disasters have caused an estimated $700 million in damage and taken at least 1,571 lives. Officials say that rebuilding and reconstructing the villages could take months, as engineers and scientists work to guarantee that the new cities will be better able to withstand the region’s frequent quakes."

Senate Votes to Advance Kavanaugh - "Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation would tilt America's highest court in favour of conservatives."

​Romanians Vote On Definition Of Marriage - "Article 48 says the family "is founded on the freely consented marriage of the spouses". A Yes vote would change that to "marriage between a man and a woman"."

1500 Year Old Sword Found In Lake - "The sword was initially reported to be 1,000 years old, but experts at the local museum now believe it may date to around 1,500 years ago."

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8 Ways to Battle Comfort Idolatry - "Healthy Christians are always wary of easing into comfortable Christianity."

Girl, Wash Your Face - Tim Challies offers an insightful (and spot on) review of the popular women's book. "It has long been my observation that there are two kinds of books being marketed to Christians. There are some whose foundational message is what you need to do and others whose foundational message is what Christ has already done. The first make a model out of the author, the second make a model out of Jesus. The first place the burden for change on personal power while the second place the burden for change on Christ’s power. It is clear that Girl, Wash Your Face falls squarely in the first category."

Supernatural Striving - "There is also the instinctive tendency toward laziness and self-indulgence. We are prone to quit when times get tough. It's so much easier to just give up. The frustration, discouragement, and disillusionment of dealing with human sin on a daily basis make it all too easy to rationalize abandoning the hard work of ministry."

Ben Sasse Speech - As a Nebraskan, I was pleased to hear this speech by Ben Sasse. Justin Taylor posted about it with a transcript and video. "People—men and women—are created in the image of God--imago Dei, as we say in Christianity.  Sexuality is a deep and precious gift—it is an intimacy, it is a oneness—that is to be shared and given—never taken. Sex is big, not small—and you don’t get to decide it for someone else."

Paul Tripp and Suffering - Tripp (who is one of those authors where I will buy their book just because they wrote it) wrote a new book on suffering (which is in my Amazon cart at the moment). Here is an article on it. Here is a short video:

Paul David Tripp's Story of Unexpected Suffering from Crossway on Vimeo.

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Story and Star Wars - Alastair Stevens knows stories. He has a number of podcasts that provide analysis of some popular stories. Being a Star Wars nerd, I found this podcast insightful, challenging, and a lot of fun. Check it out. 

Here We Stand - It's October! Not only is it fall but this year marks the 501st year since Martin Luther started the reformation. But did he start it? Desiring God has produced a podcast series that highlights a 5 minute bio of the men and women of the reformation... one for each day in October. 

The Briefing (Friday) - Al Mohler gives his take on the drama going on in Washington. Always worth a listen. 

Pastor's Talk (Episode 57 on prayer) - Jonathan Leeman and Mark Dever sit down and have conversations together and I can't get enough. Dever has a ton of wisdom and the friendship between him and Leeman is a joy to listen to. This episode in particular was good for me.