Weekly Links - gospel, wine, matchmakers, movies, and more!

photo credit: Betsy Barber

I'm still counting this post as getting my links up on the weekend, because my kids are home from school today in honor of Lincoln's birthday. That said, here is your weekly (!) good reading from around the web:


On Faith:
"Why I Don't Share the Gospel" - it's all about joy.

"Our Prayer Instincts Are Backwards" - why we start in the wrong direction when we talk to God.

"Today Is Susanna Wesley's Birthday" - Susanna Wesley is one of my favorite saints. I love reading about her!

"What My Grandmother Taught Me About Church" - a moving memorial from Russell Moore - also good reading for parents and grandparents out there who want their children to grow up loving the house of the Lord.

"When God Writes Your Story" - this testimonial about books and faith is one of the most beautiful things I've read.

"Lord, You Said There Would Be Wine" - one last good piece of reading for Ordinary Time.



General Interest:
"Interview with a Former Professional Matchmaker"

"Fiber: the least sexy weight-loss tool" - my thanks to my friend Becca for this link!

"Old Movie Review: UNBREAKABLE" - this makes me want to watch this one, and ...

"Hail, Caesar!" - and this review really makes me want to watch this one!



I hope you have a good week, and especially a good beginning to Lent on Wednesday.

-Jessica Snell

Links! Samwise, Dangerous Chemicals, New Books, and more!

"The Choices of Master Samwise, and Calling, and Going Against the Grain":

In another way, we are not operating against the grain of our nature when we are called, even when our call seems outside of what comes naturally to us. We are called to our true nature. Sam's service to his master leads him to the veriest outreaches of the world, very far from the natural element of his garden. But it doesn't make him less of a gardener, cook, and personal servant. He remains Samwise Gamgee throughout all the battles and choices. He is often uncomfortable, but hardly ever outside of his comfort zone, defined as operating based on who he is and what his role is. 

"Things I Won't Work With": - a chemist explains what substances are so terribly dangerous he doesn't even want them in his lab. Dryly hilarious.

"Wesley on the Christian Life: the Heart Renewed in Love": a new book from Fred Sanders - yay! You can read my review of his book on the Trinity here; I'm excited to read his book on Wesley.

"Book Review: Beating the Lunch Box Blues by J.M. Hirsch": Ann's review makes me really want to read this book, too.

"When God Says to Get Drunk":

Go ahead and lose control. Go ahead and get intoxicated, but get drunk in the love and passionate pursuit of your wife. What wine does to your body, let your wife do to your affections and desires. 

Links! writing, reading, and Haiti

I found Patricia Wrede's account of the financial side of a writer's life interesting. An excerpt:
Essentially, it’s like a long, long pipeline, with the writer standing at one end pouring manuscripts in. No matter how fast you pour, it takes quite a while for the money to start coming out the other end. This can be intensely frustrating, especially at the start of one’s career. One works for years for a payoff that never seems to arrive, or that looks inadequate when it does finally start trickling out.
Here is John Wesley's advice on how to read a spiritual book, with commentary by Fred Sanders.

One for the "Man Bites Dog" file: Homeowners Foreclose on Bank. Great story!
Momco3, doctor, writer and homeschooler, is headed back to Haiti to help out. Please keep her in your prayers. You can read about her previous trip here, here, and here.
Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

links!

Over Christmas, I got out of the habit of doing links posts. But I love them (there's so much good writing and videos and pictures and audio on the web!), so here you go:

Over at Brandywine Books, they post a long quotation from John Wesley, part of which reads:

Would you judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure; of the innocence or malignity of actions? Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself.

It's worth going and reading the whole thing.

There's an interview with Susan Wise Bauer here (scroll down till you see her name) that I enjoyed listening to. It covers writing, homeschooling, vocation, history and many other interesting things.

Mike Rowe (of "Dirty Jobs" - which, along with "Mythbusters", is one of the two shows on Discovery that are really worth watching with your kids) plays "Not My Job" on NPR, which is just sort of epic.

This post on "The Problem with Genre" talks about Sturgeon's Law, which I'd never heard of but which rings entirely true to me, as a lover of the genres both of space opera and of the Regency romance. If you're a genre-lover of any kind, you'll probably enjoy his analysis.

And, hat tip to my brother, the real meanings of philosophical terms. A sample:

2. Hermeneutics: What I mean

3. Logic: Why I’m right

4. Apologetics: Why you’re wrong

5. Fallacy: Why you don’t even know you’re wrong

6. Epistemology: How I know I’m right and you’re wrong

7. Existential: Don’t feel bad: everyone is wrong

It goes on. It's hilarious. Enjoy!

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell