The Lord be with you and bless you today.

Today’s Kindle deals include some good deals from Crossway.
(Yesterday on the blog: New and Notable Christian Books for Children)
Am I Sinning? 6 Questions for Moral Gray Areas
“Many Christians would label at least some of these issues as ‘gray areas’—a category we might define as actions that Scripture doesn’t clearly identify as ‘sinful’ or ‘non-sinful’ for all people in all places at all times. To say it another way, a gray area (biblically speaking) is any matter that is not clearly commanded, prohibited, or permitted in Scripture.”
The Spiritual Discipline of Shutting Up
Craig Thompson: “One discipline that is conspicuously absent from most lists, but which I find to be incredibly beneficial in my sanctification and in my relationships with others is the spiritual discipline of shutting my mouth. You may practice silence and solitude, but that isn’t the same thing as the discipline of shutting up.”
Dive Deeper Into Worship With Keith & Kristyn Getty
Paul reminds us in 1 Cor. 12:14 that “the body does not consist of one member but of many.” The Holy Spirit gives each of us gifts to employ in his service—skills that we hone when we are gathered together! This September, join thousands of believers from around the world for three days of congregational singing, deep theology, and 50+ practical breakout sessions led by the Gettys, Joni Eareckson Tada, John MacArthur, D. A. Carson, Paul David Tripp, Sandra McCracken Shai & Blair Linne, and more at the Sing! Worship Conference in Nashville, TN! EXCLUSIVE: Use code ‘CHALLIES’ to save 20% on registration before April 1. (Sponsored Link)
The Real Deal: The Exclusivity of Jesus
I appreciated this article from Equip Indian Churches: “Today, in the marketplace of ideas, the word ‘truth’ has lost its meaning, purpose and relevance. Much of this is due to the rise of philosophical relativism and postmodernism. On the altar of postmodernism, all the transcendental and objective truths, slowly but surely, are being marginalized. ‘Truth’ has now been personalised. There seems to be no definitive meaning of the word ‘meaning’ and no definitive purpose to the word ‘purpose’. For many, life seems to be a meaningless accident in a universe that is lonely, cold and dark.”
Every Technology Has Its Own Agenda
“What is the chief purpose of the bed? To provide a good night’s sleep. What is the chief purpose of the coffee pot? To provide energetic fluid for the day and prevent mass murder. What is the chief purpose of our phones? Ah, now we get a bit more confused. What is the chief purpose of social media?” That’s a question we need to be asking.
Grief and Good Advice
Donna shares a bit of good and helpful advice (that was given to her and then proved its value).
The Lord’s Prayer – New Musical Setting
Jamie Brown has shared a video of a new musical setting for the Lord’s Prayer.
Flashback: The Hidden Strength of a Weak Mother (Christian Men and Their Godly Moms)
“My dear mother, besides the rains she took with me, often commended me with many prayers and tears to God; and I doubt not but I reap the fruits of these prayers to this hour.”

You may not be outwardly bad, and yet not inwardly good. —Thomas Watson

The Lord be with you and bless you today.
Today’s Kindle deals include a guide to family worship and a book that answers one of those hard questions.
(Yesterday on the blog: What We Cannot Escape)

Bob Kellemen has just completed a three-part series on spiritual abuse. It is well worth a read.

Dr. Robert Plummer offers principles for Christians to consider as they attempt to endure or resolve conflict within the church.

Why do you have the name you do? Your parents could have chosen thousands of possible names but wanted the perfect name for you. Because there’s only one you, and nothing will identify you more than your name. (Sponsored)

Phil Hunt wants Christians—and Christian leaders especially—to understand the principle of capacity. “If this principle is understood, the pastor or missionary will not despair when some believers fail to grow past the thirty-fold or sixty-fold point. Instead, they will be faithful in taking those believers as far as their capacity will allow and will learn to rejoice in the fruit borne, though it may not be especially plentiful.”

Stephen Witmer reminds you that no problem is too small for prayer. “Do you ever feel too small for God, as though your worries don’t deserve his attention? As though he has more important things to do than tend to that tricky relationship, those hidden regrets, that dwindling bank account? If you’re tempted to believe such lies…”

Have you ever had an experience like this? “Every detail I saw was exquisite, yet none of them existed alone. Each one sang the praises of its Creator in its own unique way, and I wanted to hear every individual part, but as I sat on the bench for those few minutes I simply let myself be overwhelmed by the combination—the chorus of all creation, all around me, all together, all at once, declaring the wonders of God.”

T.M. Suffield offers some reflections on blogging in 2024. And, on a somewhat similar note, from a different site: Should You Start A Substack? (Three Pros and Cons).

It is wise and good each morning to ask “What is my God-given duty in this day?” …The one who thinks in this way, the one who prays in this way, the one who lives in this way, will live a life of duty, a life of significance, a life of great delight. 

There are no closed countries. Only places where it’s more difficult to preach your second sermon.
—Mark Dever

Like so many Canadian boys of his era, Nick went through a pretty significant Nerf Gun phase when he was 8 or 10 years old. Between several birthdays and Christmases he built up quite an arsenal and, for a time, most of his play would in some way involve these guns. There was one game he especially enjoyed. When he found out that guests were on their way over, he would hide outside and watch for their approach. When they walked down the pathway leading to our home, he would pop out of his hiding spot and unleash a fusillade of foam bullets. He loved nothing more than a successful ambush. And though his guns are no longer in his hands and he is no longer in our home, he still sets ambushes, though only inadvertently.

The unbearably sharp pain of those earliest days and months has over time given way to something that is perhaps closer to a dull ache. The loss still hurts, but not quite as badly as it once did. I still cry, but not every day. The path is still hard, but not as hard as it was months or even weeks ago. If time does not heal all wounds, it does, at least, soothe them.
One of the ways the pain has become more bearable is simply by having Nick less on my mind now than in the early days. As I get on with a life that has begun to feel like a new kind of normal, I associate him more with the past than with the present or immediate future. My love for him is undiminished, of course, as is my longing to see him. But he is not as constant a presence in my mind now as he was before. I still think about him every day, but no longer every moment.
But there are still times when he ambushes me, when a situation arises in which I’m once again forced to confront my loss head-on. And this, as it happens, is one of them. We are in Louisville, Kentucky this weekend for two significant events. Today we will attend the ceremony in which Nick’s fiancée Ryn and a number of his friends will graduate. On Sunday we will celebrate Abby’s wedding. We anticipate that it will be a weekend of great rejoicing.
Yet behind the joy we know there will also be some sorrow. After all, this would have been Nick’s graduation as well. Though he had enrolled in a program in which he would complete both his undergraduate degree and his Masters of Divinity in five years, he was scary smart and very hard-working and was on track to complete it all in only four. And so this is the day he would have graduated twice over, once from Boyce College and once from Southern Seminary. This is the day he would have finished up one phase of his life to begin another—to finish up his studies and begin his ministry. Yet, in God’s providence, his name will go uncalled in the long roll of young men and women who step up to receive their diplomas, who throw their caps into the air to celebrate the end of one phase of their lives and the beginning of another.
As soon as the graduation ceremony is over, we will change our focus to Abby and Nathan’s big day. We know, of course, that Nick will be conspicuous by his absence in the wedding party, in the family photographs, and in the speeches. He, after all, was Abby’s close confidant and dear friend and would have had a prominent place at the wedding. He, after all, was immeasurably precious to each of us. Yet, in God’s providence, he has joined into a different kind of celebration and has taken his place at a different kind of feast.
But whether in graduation ceremonies or wedding celebrations, we intend to rejoice rather than weep, to celebrate rather than lament, to look forward rather than back. We believe that God calls us to enjoy his good gifts, even when our hearts have been broken. And we can do this, for one of the paradoxes of life in this world is that in our deepest sorrows we are never without joy and in our highest joys we are never without sorrows. We learn that there are times to rejoice with those who rejoice and times to weep with those who weep—and that we have no right to demand that the rejoicing weep or that the weeping rejoice. There is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.”
And so this a weekend of laughing, not weeping, of dancing, not mourning. There may be some ambushes along the way and the tears that come with them, and that’s just fine. But we are certain that the joy of these days will be far more prominent than the sorrow. We are certain that God means for us to embrace and enjoy the pleasures he has provided, to celebrate what actually is rather than to lament what could have been. For each of these celebrations in its own way points us forward to a future in which there will be no pain left to lament. Each of life’s pleasures in its own way gestures us toward a time in which there will be no sorrow left to grieve. Each of God’s blessings calls us to rejoice. And by his grace we will.
(Here’s a precious picture that was taken just a couple of days before Nick died. Nick and Ryn had recently gotten engaged while Abby and Nate had recently begun dating. It was Abby’s birthday, so they all went out for dinner together. I’m so thankful they thought to ask the waiter to snap a photo.)