Here are a few posts that especially caught my attention this week:
A new normal. How does one ever get back to “normal” after something horrible has happened? “God shook the snow globe of my life, and some truths that were obscured by complacency have now taken a more prominent place in my thinking.”
What to do when the compliments don’t come. Excellent.
When You Take the Scraps of Lies and Make a Truth Quilt. Even if you don’t make a quilt, applying the truth counteracts the lies we’re prone to believe about ourselves.
The Great Awakening of the 21st Century, a renewed focus on grace. “I knew I was saved by grace, ‘To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.’ Eph 1:6 …but was I to be accepted in the body of Christ only when I did the right things? Were the only people approved by God the ones who kept The List too? And I noticed other people had different lists.”
Motherhood as a Mission Field. ” It is easy to become discouraged, thinking that the work you are doing does not matter much. If you were really doing something for Christ you would be out there, somewhere else, doing it. Even if you have a great perspective on your role in the kingdom, it is easy to lose sight of it in the mismatched socks, in the morning sickness, in the dirty dishes. It is easy to confuse intrigue with value, and begin viewing yourself as the least valuable part of the Church.”
It takes darkness and light to make a good book. Yes! I appreciate Sherry’s balance here.
A Faithful Man…Proverbs 20:6. This is a note on Facebook, but I think it is public so all can read. It’s a tribute to Justin Ridley, whom some of you knew or knew of, who died in an accident at a Christan camp a few years ago. My middle son happened to be at the camp that week, and many people were profoundly influenced by Justin’s life and death. Justin’s mom was the first person to reach out to us in our new church.
Thoughts on Simple Church (House Churches). Good analysis of the benefits as well as the concerns.
Ten Suggestions for Missionary Presentations. Unfortunately, the drive to compact speech into sound bytes affects even missionary presentations, but these are good tips to make them more concise and effective. On a side note, I’m so glad the churches I have been in have generally given a whole service to visiting missionaries rather than asking them to squeeze their life’s work into x number of minutes.
He would be what he wanted to be. Interesting that boys don’t generally dream of being daddies like girls dream of being mommies, but here is one sweet book about that dream.
When being silent can cost you in relation to blogging, HT to Laura Lee Groves. Balance is something most bloggers struggle with almost constantly, but it is true that the more time you invest in other people’s blogs, the more visitors and commenters you’ll have in return. Setting up a blog is not like moving into a new house where people know someone is there by the moving van in front of the house and the increased activity, lights on at night, etc. When you move into the blogosphere, no one knows you’re there unless you tell them or visit them first (or unless you write something unique that shows up on search engines). But of course we should visit and comment sincerely and not just to get return visitors.
And here’s a dose of funniness:
Happy Saturday!
Stray Thoughts 
Laughing right now at the Tim Hawkins video. He is SO funny.