Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

Every Monday morning brings a new batch of Kindle deals from Crossway. This week the deals are themed around the gospel and you’ll find titles from John Piper, Jared Wilson, and others. There are lots of books on other subjects as well.

This is good and helpful. “How does a pastor decide which songs to introduce? Why one song and not another? Here are a gauntlet of questions I ask when considering a new song for my church. If we’re going to sing a song on Sunday, it’s got to pass all the way through.”

This is excellent! This list of aspects of Jesus’ humility contrasted with areas we usually take pride in is very thought-provoking.

I am glad I watched this video until the point they discussed the third speaker at the recent “revival” at the University of Kentucky.

Here’s a challenging thought: “We can’t help others draw closer to God if we are not ourselves walking closely with God. And we can’t share God’s Word with others if we are not knowledgeable of God’s Word ourselves.”

Pierce Taylor Hibbs explains why AI can never fully replace human writers (even if it does partially replace them).

Writing for TGC Australia, Susan Rockwell explains some of what she has learned about parenting a special needs child. “God gives me strength, he gives me patience and, when I am feeling overwhelmed, I turn to him for strength. Many truths that flow from knowing God are a comfort to me. Here are just a few.”

When we could not and would not reach out to him, he has reached out to us.

If the preacher fails to warn his listeners of their peril and God’s righteous requirement, in favor of trying to make them “feel good,” he has abdicated his responsibility in ministry.
—Nate Pickowicz

When Jesus’s disciples asked for instruction on prayer, he warned them of a common temptation—the temptation to think that prayer depends upon saying just the right words or a certain number of words. “When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do,” he said, “for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:7-8).

When we pray to God, our foremost concern should not be the quantity of our words or even the quality of our words. Rather, our concern should be the purity of our hearts and the earnestness of our souls. As Hannah More says, “Prayer is not eloquence, but earnestness; not the definition of helplessness, but the feeling of it; not figures of speech, but earnestness of soul.”

God cares little for our eloquence but cares a great deal for our humility and sincerity. When you pray, whether privately or with others, it is far better to pray with the innocence and simplicity of a child than to pray with the arrogance and eloquence of a Pharisee.

My gratitude goes to my friends at Strider for sponsoring the blog this week. Strider helps grow local businesses and non-profits and wants you to consider ways to use Authentic AI To Help Your Business Be More Efficient.

Today’s Kindle deals include a biography of Mary Slessor and some other titles along with it.

Logos users will want to continue to vote in March Matchups. We’re getting closer to a winner! Be sure to check out all the deals that are already available.

(Yesterday on the blog: Disrupted Journey)

This is an interesting article from Aaron Renn who considers the maturation of the New Calvinism. “New Calvinism has shifted from an ‘All-Star team’ model designed to exert influence over the broader evangelical world to a post-superstar model that primarily serves its own community. This represents the maturity of the movement, perhaps putting it on a sustainable footing for the future.”

Alan Noble considers how the class divide today is not over who owns the technology but how much time they give to it. “What we discover is, that the divide which opens up with technology between the classes is not between who has technology and who doesn’t, but who moderates their use of technology and who doesn’t.”

Here’s a new song from the Gettys and Cochren & Co. The Gettys have just released a new live album recorded during the recent Sing! conference, and this is one of the tracks. You can find the new album wherever you listen to your music.

“This is a common response when discussing Scripture, isn’t it? ‘That’s just your interpretation!’ No matter how clearly the Bible speaks, this objection seems to persist. But is it true? Can we really understand the Bible? This question takes us to the heart of the Christian faith and invites us into a discussion about the clarity and authority of God’s Word.”

I really appreciate what Justin says here about the importance of organization. “There must be a purposeful plan, a careful stewardship of the time and energy and money and people that God has placed in your life in order to accomplish the crucial purposes for which God has entrusted them to you.”

This is a valuable warning that when everything seems crazy and uncertain, we ought to keep calm and carry on.

God asks us to do no more than he has already done—to extend mercy to those who are in desperate need.

Ironically, it is only when we know how to die properly that we finally have some inkling about how to truly live here and now.
—Michael Horton

I am convinced it is appropriate to acknowledge those who bear with chronic pain and illness and that it is especially fitting to give special honor to do those who do so with a deep sense of submission to God’s mysterious purposes in their suffering. But if that’s true, I believe it is also appropriate to give honor to those who walk with them and care for them.

Disrupted Journey

As much as we acknowledge the difficulties inherent in chronic pain and long illnesses, we also need to acknowledge that suffering is never only personal. Rather, suffering extends outward to spouses, family members, and other caretakers. They, too, deserve recognition and they, too, need support. It is for these carers that Nate Brooks has written Disrupted Journey: Walking with Your Loved One Through Chronic Pain and Illness (which I thought was releasing this week but have since learned will remain on pre-order until mid-month). “This book is a meditation on trying to faithfully live out [the Bible’s] oh-so-simple-sounding commands [about loving others] when life veers far away from being the best of times. How do we love God when he in his providence has allowed life-altering pain and illness into our loved one’s life? And how do we love our loved one well when they are wrestling with their whole world being turned upside down?” This book is meant to offer hope, instruction, and encouragement.

While Brooks is appropriately discrete when it comes to details, he reveals that his wife has long suffered from chronic pain and that he has been her primary carer for more than 10 years. This means he is all too familiar with medical conundrums, with rewriting every category of life as chronic issues manifest themselves, and with dark nights of the soul as he and his wife have been forced to reconsider what they thought they knew about themselves and God. “Chronic pain and illness are the backdrop for the movie of our life. They were there when we were newlyweds trying to figure out how to take two lives and blend them into one. They were there as we welcomed three kids into the world and lived in four states. They were there as we watched God take Kate’s father home to be with him. They have wound their way through every event, every milestone, every day of our existence. And barring something unexpected, we have about forty-five more years to go.”

With such experience in the background, Brooks writes about those situations in which suffering isn’t merely a season but an ongoing reality. He expresses the despair that comes when a carer realizes that he or she didn’t sign up for this. He considers how those whose life is framed by chronic pain and illness almost become strangers to the society around them as it presses on while they are forced to slow down or even stop. He reflects on the nature of God and humanity and takes the time to describe the lives of three historical figures who also cared for suffering loved ones. In other words, he writes a book from one carer to another, from someone who is familiar with the joys and difficulties of being called to the special task of walking with a loved one through the most difficult of times.

Appropriately, Brooks closes his work with a statement of confidence that in the end, God will make all things right. Both the pain of the one suffering the chronic illness and the pain of the one who cares for them will be swept away in a great tide of healing and joy when Christ returns. That confidence and the hope that comes with it is meant to encourage any carer to press on through every difficulty and every trial. His book is both comforting and encouraging and I gladly recommend it to anyone who knows what it is to have their journey through this life disrupted by chronic pain, long illness, and other such trials.

I don’t quite know how to gauge these things, but I feel like today’s collection of articles is especially strong. I hope you enjoy it!

There’s a new version of Paul Tripp’s War of Words available and on sale if you’ve never read it. You can’t really go wrong with a Tripp book!

Today’s Kindle deals include an interesting memoir, a trustworthy commentary, and more besides.

This is a tremendous article on God’s attributes. “I once heard it said that the true measure of a person’s character can be determined not by their ability to express any single attribute well, but rather by their capacity to display seemingly contrary attributes in harmony with one another at any given time.”

Samuel James writes about a couple of odious headlines and ties them together. “Andrew Tate is a bad person, even if people with the moral framework to know why can’t afford to say it. Prostitution is bad, even if people with the political commitments to know why can’t afford to say it. And the biggest losers of this confusion will not be podcasters or Hollywood producers, but the young men and young women who consume the content, dazzled by the confidence they see, and unprepared for the consequences of being fooled.”

I appreciate Dan sharing his view from the other side of the pew. “I recently had a friendly exchange on social media with a professor who posted about how being a pastor is the hardest job in the world. I wouldn’t have challenged it if it came from someone serving in Ukraine or the DRC. But having spent plenty of time around posh seminary offices in America that often come with perks like compensated part-time church roles, I couldn’t let it go.”

Justin considers our tendency to provide answers that are far too easy for complex problems.

“Why do human beings always celebrate with a meal? What is it about food that makes consuming it together the most appropriate way to commemorate an occasion? Think about it. We celebrate everything with a meal. Birthdays, funerals, graduations, anniversaries, engagements, promotions, holidays—all excuses to gather and eat and drink.”

Are Christian happier than non-Christians in this life? John Piper considers the question.

The church…is, in short, a place where God means to bless every family—even, and perhaps especially, those families who are most broken and most in need of his grace.

Look up! That is the key to perseverance. Not looking in—to our pain. Not looking down—in despair. But up—up to the King, the Lord, the Saviour, the one who has gone before us and who will use hard things to make our faith complete.
—Helen Thorne

May the Lord be with you and bless you today.

Westminster Books is offering a deal on a resource on pastoral theology. Kevin DeYoung says it’s “inspiring, challenging, comprehensive, opinionated, practical, and spiritual in the deepest sense of the word.”

Today’s Kindle deals include some top-notch titles for those who are grieving, those who are nearing the end of life, or those who are just looking for a good novel.

(Yesterday on the blog: Nick Would Be 25 Years Old Today)

I find it helpful to catch up with popular authors from time to time. I have often expressed concerns with John Eldredge’s books and this article from Caleb Wait does nothing to diminish those concerns.

Kevin DeYoung: “Don’t get me wrong, we need some Christians (though, undoubtedly, not as many as we have now) to participate in the maelstrom of cultural commentary, just like we need Christians in every non-sinful area of human activity. Political punditry is a legitimate calling. It’s just not the pastor’s calling. The man who comments constantly on the things ‘everyone is talking about’ is almost assuredly not talking about the things the Bible is most interested in talking about.”

It’s helpful to be reminded of the complexities of Bible translation since it helps us better appreciate Scripture and some of the decisions that have to be made in translating it. This article from Peter Gurry explains some of the complexities involved.

“Compassion is a Christian virtue. No one felt compassion like Jesus did. On many occasions, he was “moved with compassion,” meaning that he felt within himself that combination of sorrow, pity, and love. But Jesus’ compassion was not sentimentality. He never merely affirmed the sufferer’s feelings. His compassion was organically connected to truth, love, and justice.”

Jennifer McPhail explains how Western missionaries serving the Eastern Hemisphere face several key challenges.

Bobby Jamieson explains the modern-day (and especially American) obsession with “workism.” “Who does the religion of workism benefit? If you have no dependents or heirs, then, by definition, not them. Your workism may benefit your boss. It might especially benefit your boss’s boss’s boss and the shareholders. But does it benefit your neighbor? Does it benefit you?”

Because Christians are not trained in sound doctrine, they wholeheartedly embrace error, often finding it more satisfying than God’s revealed truth.

I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me.
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I don’t why we place more emphasis on some birthdays than others. Why is 16 more significant than 17? Why are multiples of 5 more significant than multiples of 4 or 6? I don’t who decides these things or on what basis, but I suppose 25 is significant because it marks a quarter of a century. Though it is an uneven number it somehow feels like a round number—a particularly meaningful one.

Today is Nick’s 25th birthday. Or is it better to say that it would be his 25th birthday? I’m not sure. Either way, though a quarter of a century has passed and so many memories have been lost to time, there is still so much I remember about March 5, 2000—the excitement of knowing the day had come at last, the helplessness of watching Aileen in labor, the awe of witnessing childbirth, the joy of meeting my firstborn. It is a day that remains set apart in my mind and memory, set apart in our family lore.

For 20 years we celebrated March 5 and for five years we have mourned it. For 20 years it was a day that evoked gratitude for a wonderful gift and for 5 years it has been a day that evokes grief for a tremendous loss. Of course, gratitude and grief are not opposite to one another and do not cancel each other out. It is possible to be grateful and grieved. And that is how I feel today—still grateful for Nick’s life even as I grieve his death.

It’s rare for me to read my books after they’ve been published, but I do find myself picking up Seasons of Sorrow from time to time. Seasons was written as blog articles and journal entries long before I imagined it being collected, collated, and bound into a book. In that way, it is an urgent and in-the-moment series of reflections on loss. I find myself increasingly glad that I wrote it as I did, for so much is different now. I have become a seasoned sufferer instead of an unseasoned one. I have learned to live with sorrow instead of being crushed by it. I could never go back and capture the poignancy, urgency, bewilderment, and brokenheartedness of those early days. I would necessarily make it seem easier than it was, to transpose my five-years-later settledness onto those days when I was so severely tested. The book captures moments in time that I’d never be able to re-capture today.

Aileen and I often consider that bound to missing Nick is missing our old lives. The loss of our son and the loss of our innocence are inseparably bound together. Our old lives were good. We had many pleasures and few griefs, many joys and few sorrows. But now grief is always close at hand, always just beneath the surface, always able and willing to swell up at the smallest provocation. Yet joys and pleasures are also always close at hand and we are determined that we will not neglect these joys nor allow sorrow to overwhelm them. If we are responsible to steward our griefs surely also our joys, and to entrust them all to the Lord. We are grateful that each March 5 without Nick is just a bit easier than the one before.

The reality I struggle to admit to myself these days is that Nick is beginning to fade into the past. Photos of the two of us look a little less familiar than they once did, almost like they are snapshots of someone else’s life rather than mine. It’s not that he has become a stranger but just that he’s so much less familiar than he once was. I don’t think I could prove it, but I’m pretty sure a day has now gone by when I didn’t think of him even once. I still miss him dreadfully. I still long to see him. But he exists in my past, not in my present.

Yet my confidence has not wavered that he exists in my future as well, that after a few more birthdays have passed, or perhaps many more birthdays have passed, we will be reunited. And nothing has dimmed my anticipation of that day. Nothing has diminished my longing for the joy he and I will experience when we can finally throw our arms around one another and rejoice in God’s salvation. Nothing has dimmed my confidence that Christ has risen and, therefore, Nick and I will rise as well—rise to be with Christ and rise to enjoy him together.

Finally, here are a few glimpses of March 5 in years past:

Logos users will want to vote in the second round of March Matchups as we work toward some great deals.

Today’s Kindle deals include a helpful resource on James, a guided reading of Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, a book for teens, and more.

The relationship between Canada and the U.S. has taken a strange turn in the past few weeks. Darryl wants to make sure it doesn’t affect relationships among citizens of a higher kingdom.

“While our culture presents cutting off your parents as a viable option for self-care, it isn’t the only option. What does the Bible say about challenging relationships with parents? What does it look like to apply biblical wisdom and gospel hope to our relationship with our first caretakers? Here are three biblical principles to consider before you cut off your parents.”

Cindy offers counsel on praying to the Lord for unmet desires. “Like you, I’ve done a fair bit of praying while waiting. Here are a few things God taught me to pray in those seasons of longing.”

My friend James helps pastors know how to preach from their brokenness. “Life is hard, and ministry adds another layer of difficulty. From the outside, we face a real adversary actively opposing every step of progress we make. On the inside, our own souls cry out for comfort as we minister to others in need. How can we preach when we ourselves are broken? Is it even possible? Why would God allow our service to be made more difficult by soul-wrenching trials?”

There is wisdom here for those responsible for recruiting and caring for church volunteers. “When volunteers experience a genuine community where they are discipled, loved, and cared for in your ministry, you’ll naturally attract more people to join your team. You may never feel like you have ‘enough’ volunteers, but you will experience the joy of having committed, quality volunteers who are deeply invested in your mission.”

Here’s a long and interesting article about Christian Nationalism. “Baptists have traditionally affirmed that a healthy republic requires Christian faith and a virtuous populace while also resisting top-down efforts to Christianize America. Rejecting calls for a renewed Christendom hardly indicates compromise with secularism. I would argue, to the contrary, that many of the renewed Christian Nationalist visions need to be rejected specifically because they aren’t supernatural enough. Such calls effectually seek to Christianize culture apart from the Baptist insistence on spiritual regeneration.”

In Jesus’s most famous parable, neither the older nor younger brother was outside the need or the reach of the Father’s love. Your best and worst child equally need Jesus.

Our children’s resolve is only as strong as the God they believe in, and if the God they believe in is presented to them as nothing more than a small deity, their loyalty will follow suit.
—Sam Luce & Hunter Williams

The God of love and peace be with you today.

Today’s Kindle deals include The Unfinished Reformation, Seeing the Unseen, and other excellent choices.

(Yesterday on the blog: What Makes Heaven Happy)

“In the social media era, too many people view themselves as de facto journalists, where even friendships and memberships are little more than ‘sources’ we can leverage for our own personal brand. I’ve seen too many people become distrustful too quickly of friends and teachers that have a proven track record of faithfulness. Why? Because the digital ecosystem is constantly pressing on them.” I appreciate what Samuel says here about tribalism in the modern world.

What does the Bible say about women pastors? Guy Waters gives an overview.

This is a sweet article by a mother-in-law to her daughter-in-law. That can be such a precious relationship (though it can also be such a tough one)!

“Every day that we wake up, there are two paths before us. These two paths go by various names. We could call them the paths of wisdom and folly. Or the paths of blessing and curse. Or the paths of good and evil. Or the paths of God-exaltation and self-exaltation.” This is what the Bible refers to as life and death.

For those who came to Christ early in life, it can be difficult to feel like they were ever an enemy of God. John Piper addresses this issue and does so well. “The basic issue we face is this: Are we going to learn our true condition before Christ and outside Christ from our memory and our experience, or are we going to learn it from the word of God? Are we going to feel it because it’s in the word of God and the Spirit applies it to us? Or are we going to try to dredge up some memory that may not exist at all and try to feel that? I don’t think that’s going to work — and even if it did work, it would be inadequate.”

“In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, it can become easy to lose sight of why we do the things we do. I think that, in order to regain a proper Biblical perspective in the midst of the mundane, we must first narrow our focus before broadening it again. That is, before setting our sights to the plethora of issues abroad, let us take stock of our own hearts, homes, families, and church community. There is a real sense in which our pursuit of ‘God and country’ must begin at ‘hearth and home.’”

God’s plan all along has been to use ordinary leaders to accomplish extraordinary things. His plan has been to use people of average ability to accomplish matters of eternal significance.

Legalism is simply separating the law of God from the person of God.
—Sinclair Ferguson

This week the blog is Sponsored by Strider, a Christian-owned online marketing agency. Ryan Freeman has been helping to grow local businesses and non-profits for over 30 years. Book a free consultation with Ryan to learn if Strider is a fit for your goals.

In the 90s, clients wondered if a website was really necessary. Business email? You must be crazy! Ten years later, e-commerce was lunacy and social media was just going to be a fad. You can imagine (or maybe you remember!) the introduction of mobile phones, texting, and then smartphones!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the new shiny object, and once again I’m seeing a very natural hesitation when it comes to change. Many people feel AI is too complicated to be of use, or they fear that AI might produce generic, low-quality, or inauthentic content. However, when implemented thoughtfully, AI can help to streamline repetitive tasks and enhance creative work without compromising authenticity. Here’s how you can harness AI to boost your business’s efficiency while maintaining genuine engagement.

Dos and Don’ts: Maximizing AI’s Potential

1. Crafting Effective Prompts

Don’t: Use vague prompts like “Write me an article about widgets.” This will give you generic content that fails to resonate with your audience and sounds like a robot wrote it..

Do: Provide detailed instructions to your AI tools. For example:

Audience: Specify who you’re addressing (e.g., small business owners).

Tone: Define the desired tone (e.g., authoritative yet friendly). Bonus: Point to previous articles you’ve written so that the AI can learn your style.

Purpose: Clarify the objective of the content (e.g., to inform, persuade, or entertain).

This approach ensures the AI generates content that aligns with your business’s voice and goals.

Here’s an example of a quick but useful starter prompt for a blog post.

You are a marketing copywriter with deep experience in the dental medical care industry.

Help me to write a blog post promoting the importance of regular dental checkups for children. The audience is parents with children under 16 years old. Use a friendly tone and authoritative tone to show you have knowledge and experience while being relatable and empathetic. Use headings and bullet points so it’s easy to read.

Give citations for any data or facts that you use.

Suggest some ideas for graphics.

2. Managing Online Reviews

Don’t: Ignore customer reviews or respond with generic, copy-pasted replies. That’s a great way to broadcast that you don’t care about your customers.

Do: Utilize AI to draft personalized responses to each review. AI can analyze the review’s sentiment and content, assisting you in crafting thoughtful replies that address specific customer feedback. Edit the draft to add your final touches before you publish. This personalized approach demonstrates that you value customer input and are committed to continuous improvement.

3. Creating Unique Visual Content

Don’t: Rely solely on common stock images that other businesses also use. This can make your brand appear generic and uninspired.

Do: Leverage AI to generate custom photos, illustrations, and graphics. AI-driven design tools can create visuals tailored to your brand’s identity, setting you apart from competitors and enhancing your visual storytelling.

Here’s the first prompt I used to create the featured image for this post. Because of the conversational nature of ChatGPT, I was able to guide it through many revisions.

4. Enhancing Social Media Engagement

Don’t: Post sporadically or wait for free moments to come up with content, leading to an inconsistent and less engaging social media presence.

Do: Use AI to assist in crafting engaging posts, generating unique images, and scheduling content for consistency. This proactive approach keeps your social media channels vibrant and relevant.

5. Improving Customer Service

Don’t: Implement live chat features on your website without proper monitoring and staffing, resulting in delayed replies or missed messages.

Do: Add an AI website agent trained on your specific business information to handle customer inquiries in real-time. AI-powered chatbots can conversationally answer frequently asked questions, provide product information, and capture lead details efficiently. Additionally, consider using an AI receptionist to manage overflow calls, ensuring no customer query goes unattended.

We Can Help

Integrating AI into your business doesn’t mean sacrificing authenticity. With the right strategies, AI can enhance efficiency, personalize customer interactions, and drive growth. If you’re thinking about trying AI and online marketing to attract and convert more customers, contact me for a chat. The Strider team is here to help you navigate the evolving digital landscape and achieve sustainable profitability – whether you’re a one-person entrepreneur or a growing team of 40+

PS: To write this article, I created a bulletpoint outline, gave ChatGPT a prompt about the purpose and audience for the post, and then edited the text.