This will be my last reminder to Logos users to check out the March Matchups deals to get discounts on some great commentary sets. The deals end on Friday.

There’s yet another good list of Kindle deals for the collectors today. Don’t forget that a long list of commentaries has also been significantly discounted.
Abiding in the Almighty’s Shadow
“Chaplain Holland read aloud as I sat silently in my scrubs at the conference table, hands folded in my lap. I knew my precious husband, shot in the line of duty, currently in surgery and in critical condition, had never left the Shadow of the Almighty.” Emory Mangan tells of the evening when she learned that her husband, a police officer, had been shot in the line of duty.
All of Our Opinions All of the Time
Chris Martin: “I’m not offering an opinion on whether or not Will Smith smacking Chris Rock was okay, I’m offering an opinion on why we should hesitate hopping in on the controversy of the day. I think those are different levels of conversation, and I hope you would have the awareness to see that.”
If the Bible Is Enough, Why Is It Good to Retell Bible Stories? (Video)
It can seem like you’re taking a step backward when you write a book that retells Bible stories rather than using the Bible story itself. Yet we have good reason to do that in that God gave to the church teachers! (Sponsored Link)
What Is True Justice?
“We’ve allowed ourselves to be distracted. While our conversations have been profitable, the issue of justice has unfortunately been derailed by distractions about critical race theory.” This is a good point. Even if we know why CRT is not true justice, that doesn’t necessarily help us to extend justice toward those who need it.
Why You Still Need the Church Even If You Have Been Hurt by It
Adriel Sanchez: “As a pastor, I’ve had countless conversations with people hurt by religious authority. One would hope that words like coercive, corrupt, and manipulative would never be used to describe church leadership, but sadly that’s not the case. If you’re one of the wounded and you have turned your back on Christianity due to the experience, I want to plead with you to reconsider your response for three reasons…”
You Can Obey
“We thank Jesus that he came, died for us and transferred his perfect life to our account. And then we can think that we won’t be perfect until glory so we kind of give up trying. Sinners gonna sin, innit. But the fact is, we can obey.”
Do Bible Translations Really Matter?
Do Bible translations really matter? This article answers in the affirmative, then looks at a few related questions.
Flashback: Can I Ask a Dumb Question?
The path to wisdom is littered with evidence of our inborn foolishness. Before we learn to say things that are wise we say things that are dumb.

The foundation of a man’s eternal happiness or misery is laid in this life. —William Strong

From time to time I like to share an example of a pastoral prayer that was prayed at Grace Fellowship Church. The pastoral prayer is a time for one of the pastors or elders to pray before the congregation and to intercede on their behalf. It’s a precious element of a service. I prayed this prayer earlier this month.

Our Father in heaven, what a joy it is that we can call you “Father.” You rule over this earth, but don’t tell us to pray to “your majesty.” You are high and lifted up, but you don’t tell us to address you as “your highness.” You are judge of the living and the dead, but don’t tell us to say “your honor.” Instead you invite us to call you “our Father.” And so we don’t speak to you today as subjects before a king, or citizens before an emperor, or plaintiffs before a judge—we speak to you as children before a father. We speak as children who are confident that our Father loves us, confident that our Father hears us, confident that our Father is eager to act for our good.
Father, we have already confessed that we are like sheep who have gone astray. But we are also like children who have rebelled against a kind and benevolent father, a father who has only ever loved us, a father who has only ever acted in ways that benefited us. We have chosen to defy you, to revolt against your authority, to go so far as to wish you were dead. We are so sorry. And we are so thankful that you continued to love us, that you continued to care about us, that you patiently and willingly drew us to yourself. What a God you are! What a Father you are!
For those of us who are fathers, we pray that we would learn from you, that we would model our fathering after yours, that we would look to the way you relate to us and extend all of that mercy, all of that love, all of that compassion to the children you’ve blessed us with. Let us love as we have been loved. Let us be fathers in the way you are a Father.
Father, we thank you for the many precious gifts you’ve given us, not the least of which is this church. Thank you that since we are all your children and you are Father to us all, you’ve drawn us together into this community, this family.
We thank you for granting us the gift of elders and deacons and Father we ask that they would serve well, that the elders would lead on your behalf and that the deacons would serve on your behalf. And we pray that you would grant us more elders and more deacons. You promise that if we ask according to your will you will listen and you will provide. We know it is your will for a church to be led by elders and served by deacons, so we ask that you would raise up members of this church who would be called, and qualified, and willing to serve as elders. We pray that you would raise up members of this church who would be called, and qualified, and willing to serve as deacons. We see this as a great need in this church and so we pray that you would grant what we ask. We pray that you would burden individuals to serve and we pray that you would grant wisdom to the members so we can identify those people and simply acknowledge your calling on their life.
We thank you that you are not Father only to the people in this congregation but to Christians throughout the world, throughout the country, throughout the city. We think today of our brothers and sisters at [nearby local church] on the east side of Toronto. Please bless them as they meet to worship you today. Please bless [pastor] as he pastors that church. He has served there faithfully for many years and we ask that you would grant him many more. We pray that you would help the people of that church to serve as a faithful and committed part of your family right here in this city.
And Father as we turn to the Word, to hear it read and preached, we ask that you would help us listen attentively and apply diligently. We pray that we would listen as children who so badly need the wisdom of their Father, as children who are committed to imitating their Father, and as children who long to please their Father. I pray that you would speak and we would listen—that you, who are perfect and unchanging, would do a great work within us who are imperfect and in desperate need of change. Please let us leave here today as children who have heard from their Father, who have grown in love and trust for their Father, and who are eager to be like their Father.
We pray all this in the name of our precious Savior, our elder brother, Jesus Christ. Amen.

This week you can find 50% off on the ESV Journaling Bibles at Westminster Books. They are a great resource for better understanding and applying the Bible.

There are not a lot of Christian Kindle deals today, so I added a few general market options that caught my eye.
(Yesterday on the blog: Breathe a Sigh of Relief or Recoil in Terror)
How Evangelicals Lose Will Make All the Difference
That’s an intriguing headline, isn’t it? And it’s got a good article behind it.
The Gray Havens – I’ll Fly Away (Live from The Zion Caravan Tour)
I enjoyed this new rendition of “I’ll Fly Away” by the Gray Havens.
What is our greatest need?
Compelled by a desire for men to know God’s love, Washer draws from the church’s greatest theologians to herald Christ’s centrality in revelation, salvation, sanctification, study, proclamation, and glory. The Preeminent Christ will stimulate you to zealously seek Christ and His gospel over all worldly “needs.” (Sponsored Link)
Use Your Comfort Zone to the Glory of God
“‘Get out of your comfort zone.’ We hear it all the time, from friends, family, business leaders, church leaders, and actually, the whole rest of the world, it seems. But I’m going to encourage you here to do just the opposite: to find your comfort zone and stay in it.”
Shooting For The Earth
This article seems to me to nicely complement the previous one. “Shoot for the moon, they say, and even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. I‘m not so sure.”
Your preaching is primarily for believers
This is so important to consider. “In certain circles, seeking to get unbelievers into church is seen as the highest possible goal. There is nothing better, according to some, when unbelievers come into the church and under the sound of the gospel. That, they aver, is what we ought to be about. At the risk of being deemed a contrarian, I just don’t think that is true.”
LORD, My Heart Is Not Haughty
What a great reflection/meditation/prayer.
In Dependence
Here’s one for those especially independent people. “Not long ago, I was talking to a 25+ year friend and former colleague, and, in a teary moment, said to him, ‘I need you to hear this.’ As I paused, he said, ‘Lisa, I have never thought of you as needing anything.’ His honesty set me back on my heels.”
Flashback: What a Wonder Is a Human Being!
A mighty oak from the smallest acorn, the greatest mustard tree from the tiniest seed, and a great and noble life from the littlest child. So much potential bound up in so tiny a person, so many possibilities lying latent, so many opportunities to serve simply waiting for time, for growth, for maturity.

The nearness of God, secured by the gospel, is a source of all kinds of comforts and wisdom. —Ed Welch