workaholics

I loved these quotes...

Workaholics miss the point...They try to fix problems by throwing sheer hours at them. They try to make up for intellectual laziness with brute force. This results in inelegant solutions.

If all you do is work, you're unlikely to have sound judgements. Your values and decision making wind up skewed. You stop being able to decide what's worth extra effort and what's not. And you wind up just plain tired. No one makes sharp decisons when tired.

Workaholics aren't heroes. They don't save the day, they just use it up.

(from Fried & Hansson)

the great albums (v) - wha'ppen

The Beat were in many ways embedded within the Ska revival of Two-Tone Records but were always a little bit different, with maybe a slightly harder edge to them.

Wha'ppen was their second album, released in 1981. It lacked some of the energy of their first offering, I Just Can't Stop It, but it was a far more solid affair, with their politics more centre-stage (which makes it a great album to post on the day a general election is called).

The album on spotify kicks off with a track that wasn't on the album (Too Nice To Talk To). It was probably their strongest ever single (how I wish I could find the 12" version of it!) but never really belonged on this album.

In terms of the album's themes, they're maybe best expressed on the song Cheated - an almost prophetic portrayal of Thatcherite Britain, years ahead of its time. If the album was looking to portray the darkness descending, they would surely want to say that the gloom had yet to reach its deepest.

It isn't just politics, it's relationships and their rocky ground (no wonder the album fuses so many musical styles). It could easily have been an incoherent mess and, whilst not every track works, they largely succeed.

It's one of the great by-passed albums of all time.

gospel coalition: book reviews & previews

This is a great new resource from The Gospel Coalition folks - a section of their site that handles book reviews and book previews (sample chapters of certain books).

Well worth adding to your RSS feed.

why knowing what you believe (foundationally) is important

Well, it's important for all sorts of reasons, of course, not least of which is the simple matter of truth. But in terms of inter-personal & organisational dynamics, Fried & Hansson put their finger on it:

When you don't know what you believe, everything becomes an argument. Everything is debatable. But when you stand for something, decisions are obvious.

(Fried & Hansson, Rework, p.44)

sinclair ferguson: praying for our dispositions

it's so important for us to pray that our dispositions, as well as our minds, will be sanctified. Otherwise the disposition in which we teach the scriptures can actually have the function of distorting the very scriptures that we teach.

from The Pastor & His Heart

apps that make iPad desirable

I've already mentioned the free ESV app but of course there's so much more to come in terms of Bible software (think Laridian, Olive Tree and Logos).

But here, for me, is a huge draw to the iPad: the Evernote app. Fabulous. Almost peerless.

And if the iBooks experience is one you hanker for, then this announcement of material from Zondervan will only deepen the desire.

C'mon, keep this ball rolling you guys!

a bible for your iPad

You know you want one.

Now you'll want one even more.

Free ESV Bible app for iPad.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

ono: nobody sees me like you do

I wanna quit moving
I wanna quit running
I wanna relax and be tender
I wanna see us, together again,
rocking away in our walnut chairs

(from the album Season Of Glass, 1981)

a book of the conference - for free

Talks from a recent Desiring God conference are now available as a pdf, free to download.

Looks like it's chock-full of good stuff.

Go here.

well said, john ortberg

Reflecting on the search process for a church leader, John Ortberg writes:

But I do have a conviction that when it comes to getting leadership right, 98 percent of the ballgame is relationship. I believe where there is a relationship of joy and commitment and mutual submission and trust and authentic love—then the division of labor issues can flow freely and effectively. But where the relationship is broken, all the org charts in the world can't save it.

Well said, says I.

john stott: the cross of Jesus

There is wonderful power in the Cross of Christ. It has power to wake the dullest conscience and melt the hardest heart, to cleanse the unclean, to reconcile him who is afar off and restore him to fellowship with God, to redeem the prisoner from his bondage and lift the pauper from the dunghill, to break down the barriers which divide [people] from one another, to transform our wayward characters into the image of Christ and finally make us fit to stand in white robes before the throne of God.

from The Preacher's Portrait

don't plan

Fried & Hansson recommend that we downgrade our planning for the future into guessing about the future - that way we're freed from obsessing over it and able to improvise along the way. They make a number of helpful points and conclude with these words:

Working without a plan may seem scary. But blindly following a plan that has no relationship with reality is even scarier.

(They're talking businesses but you can think 'church' too and find their work stimulating and helpful. The above example put me in mind of James 4:13ff.)

judgement: the return to chaos

I linked a few weeks back to some posts by Peter Enns in which he mentions that in both the flood and the exodus plagues, judgement is seen as a return to primordial chaos. The point was well made and securely-grounded.

I think the same is also seen at the cross when the sun is darkened - it's Genesis 1 in reverse: the sun is (effectively) blotted-out and the earth returns to the chaos of darkness.

Maybe those instances help to clarify the nature of God's judgement upon sin, that it results in de-creation, in chaos and an absence of meaning and order and vitality and the associated anguish of such a state.

step outside, posh boy

A deeply perceptive article in The Guardian, laying bare the British electorate's underlying sympathies with 'the hard man'.

keller on proverbs, via the city

In a piece on why he puts an emphasis on Christians and churches aiming to reach cities with the gospel, Tim Keller says something about the book of Proverbs that I've found, over the years, really helpful in handling the book - but he probably says it far better than I could (and the thought wasn't original to me anyway):

When I studied the book of Proverbs, I came to see that a proverb is not the same as a command or a promise. Proverbs say things like, "In general, if you work hard, you won't find yourself lacking the basics, but there are plenty of exceptions. So work hard, but don't be shocked if something goes wrong." That's not an iron-clad promise (that everyone who works hard will be well off) nor a command. It is a statement about a wise course of action. When I say that we need to put more emphasis on city ministry, I'm speaking 'proverbially.' The Bible and history shows us how important cities are as centers for ministry, yet the amount of effort the church puts into cities is not proportionate to the need or opportunity.

sample chapters on preaching

You might want to check out the samples of these couple of books on preaching - and maybe even then buy the books.

William Willimon - Undone By Easter (Keeping Preaching Fresh)

T. David Gordon - Why Johnny Can't Preach

blending stories and doctrine

This is a really helpful article by Brandon O'Brien, reflecting on the ministry of Walter Wangerin.

rework

I liked the sound of this book and I really like Mike Rohde's graphic work, so it's on order with Amazon.

Here's a clip of the authors chatting about it on ABC.



(HT: Mike Rohde)

in extension

Inspired by an album I saw on spotify, I decided to put together a playlist of my favourite extended versions of old 80s hits.

So, without apology for the unashamed nostalgia, here's the link:

The 80s extended remixes playlist

Any additional suggestions welcome.

friday night spotify (again): the best of the pretenders

Some bands are best remembered this way - all the joy of their singles crammed onto one disk. This collection by The Pretenders is so full of memories - ah, the early 80s - what heady days you were! We remember you well and without blame.

And who could ever resist the sublime I Go To Sleep? The autumn of 1981 was its natural home all along.