The GAB June 24

Sharing the Good and Beautiful with you.

Jun 25, 2024

Welcome one and all to June’s curated collection of excellent writing, and uplifting resources. In my neck of the woods right now the air is humid, hay-fever medication is accumulating, and the electric fans have been dusted off and put to good use. Summer has arrived! I must confess—summer is not my favourite season, it actually trails way behind autumn and spring in terms of preference. However, I do appreciate the beauty in every season; so I’m trying to embrace feeling hot and sweaty. I plan on sitting under the shade of a large leafy tree whenever humanly possible. Hopefully with a good book to keep me company. May the following be a blessing to you…

Podcasts

The Writers Circle Podcast by Will Parker Anderson is for non fiction writers who want to ‘sharpen their skills and publish their work for the glory of Jesus’. This summarises one of the most helpful podcasts for writers I have listened to yet. This episode on writing habits is a good place to start:

David Brooks on the art of truly knowing a person via the Gospelbound Podcast.

Be inspired and encouraged to pray for our beloved brothers and sisters throughout the persecuted church with the Prisoners of Hope Podcast. The Prisoners of Hope Podcast features real conversations with real people, whose lives have been affected by persecution—people who are Prisoners of Hope. the aim of the podcast is to:
Share how Christianity is anything but a coping mechanism for the faint of heart.
Learn from people who put their lives on the line for the sake of the Gospel.
Discover how the Holy Spirit is working in ways that seem ripped straight from the Book of Acts.

Ray Ortlund on The Crossway Podcast reflects on his experience recording the ESV Bible. Ray describes it as ‘feeling like the culmination of fifty years of reading, studying, and meditating on God’s Word.’ A beautiful example of the power scripture has to change our lives.

open book lot — Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

Articles

Subby Szterszky on the complex relationship between art and the Christian.

‘We all want beauty in our art, works that delight our eyes and ears and speak to our heart. But we also tend to equate beauty with things that are pretty, pleasant and safe. This is especially so among people in the church. However, the canvas of creation presents a different model of beauty, one that wears many faces. It includes things that are neither pretty nor pleasant nor safe: the dark depths of the ocean; the frozen wastes of the Antarctic; apex predators that God feeds with their prey in due season. These all possess beauty that may be bleak or craggy or deadly, but it’s beauty nonetheless.’

Sarah Clarkson
’s luminous writing on wild gardens and 40th birthdays.

‘I've thought a lot in the last few years about the way that our experience of time is framed by our celebrations. I've studied this deeply. We really can root ourselves in the larger story of eternity by the feasts we keep and the hours we mark out as sacred. That’s the basic theology behind all the feasts of the church year, behind the biblical law of keeping the Sabbath, and in a lesser way, even in our choice for holidays that give us a widened sight of our lives.’

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra on an unequally yoked small group.

‘It’s tricky to design a fruitful small group for unequally yoked couples. Especially when you’ve been leading a comfortable group in an established church for over a decade.’

Karen Stenberg on having received more than scraps from the table.

‘A mom weary to her bones begging God to feed her soul. Painfully aware that I cannot give the worship, message, or conversations to follow my full attention. I am no longer a teen at a youth retreat anticipating the spiritual highs of a mountaintop. Instead, I am a woman coming, knowing my attention will be divided, wondering if it’s even worth it for me to be there at all.’

Daniel Seabaugh on how to overcome fear of public speaking. I need to read this regularly!

‘Thousands of eyeballs stared at me. In the moment, I didn’t know what else to do but start talking about the next thing I had planned, completely missing the conclusion of the thing I was saying. I’m sure people were confused, maybe even embarrassed for me. But looking back, I doubt many people remember that moment, even though it’s burned into my memory. I felt crushed, humiliated, and embarrassed. But I lived through it. The thing I feared actually happened, and it wasn’t that bad.’

Aaron Earls
on ditching the guilt of the hustle.

‘You can only sacrifice so much until there’s nothing left. You can only hustle for so long until you’re exhausted. Burning the candle at both ends only gets you in the dark faster.’

Brittany Allen
on the gift of our bodies.

‘This morning, instead of taking it slow like my body needed, I revealed my frustration with it. I just want my body to keep up with my mind. And because it so often doesn’t, I’m tempted to despise it. I want to run, but my body says no. I want to mow the grass, but my body revolts with a heart rate of 185, and dizziness steals my vision and my strength. Yet, this is the body God provided for me. The very one he knitted together in my mom’s abdomen. The one he calls good.’

Ashley Anthony on seminary being for mum’s too.

‘Our religious life is embedded in day-to-day practicality. Little ones with formidable questions keep our theological musings humble.’

Nathan Knight on needing a qualified Pastor, not just a charismatic one.

‘People’s consciences are being dulled, so the church needs leaders who will unashamedly teach and defend sound doctrine with joy and love.’

Tim Shorey on enjoying the many flavours of the word of God.

‘There’s something about a sixty-five-year-old with stage 4 cancer, a rare and extremely painful bone disease, and a bombardment of utterly debilitating treatments that make folks want to find out more about you and how you have done and are doing life.’

Randy Alcorn on how what you read builds who you are.

‘When suffering comes our way, it’ll exert a force that either pushes us away from God or pulls us toward Him. The perspectives we’ve cultivated between now and then will determine our direction.’

Lisa Jacobson
on embracing the gift of growing older.

‘He wasn't exactly staring, but I could feel his gaze. After some time, I felt obliged to look back and extend a friendly smile. At this point, he removed his cap, wiped his head, and asked, "Do you mind if I offer you a compliment?"

Christopher Stites
on the hidden power of myths.

‘There is no doubt that life is hard and this world is broken. But I believe with all my heart that God made this world to be enjoyed, that He is good and there is beauty worth fighting to see all around us. You don’t have to travel overseas or drastically change your circumstances in order to rekindle a love for life.’

Ruth Clemence writes a vulnerable prayer on that thing we don’t like to talk about…jealousy.

‘The fruits of the Spirit in them appear fresh and ripe as they ooze love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control in all they do. My fruit seems stunted in the soil, or at times, I fear, rotten to the core.’