You need summer music. Summer music doesn't have to mean listening to something either super poppy or power-fun. You can find fun, power, and thoughtfulness at the same time. You can listen to fun summer music with huge, retro hooks that also is on an album that will stand the test of time.
My favorite album of the year that sounds best on a hot, sunny day with the windows of the car down and the radio turned up is Mikal Cronin's MCII. And it's only $6.99. I think you are gonna love this one.
Sigur Ros: Kveikur | A band that is doing their own thing and doing it extremely well.
This album is meant to fill your room. It's darker. "Close your eyes and feel the terrible greatness of nature swallow you up." And it's on sale this week!
10 Reasons To Get Married & Have Kids Young
My list would look a little different than this, but Molly and I got married young, had kids young, and we love to encourage others to do the same.
Tim Keller On How To Get Into Gospel Conversations
A video, but more importantly a nice outline of what Keller says.
Justin Taylor - On Writing Well
Go read more on Justin's four points:
- Read Slowly
- Read a lot
- Write to think
- Write and rewrite
Another month of good, cheap music. Here are the albums I recommend from Amazon's $5 albums for June.
Stephen King wrote one of my favorite books on writing called On Writing. His take on adverbs clearly has stuck with me. He has also written a popular book here or there. Terry Gross' interview of King on Fresh Air yesterday was really good, including a bunch of quotes worth checking out. Here's a great example. You should go listen to the whole thing.
I choose to believe it. ... I mean, there's no downside to that. If you say, 'Well, OK, I don't believe in God. There's no evidence of God,' then you're missing the stars in the sky and you're missing the sunrises and sunsets and you're missing the fact that bees pollinate all these crops and keep us alive and the way that everything seems to work together. Everything is sort of built in a way that to me suggests intelligent design. But, at the same time, there's a lot of things in life where you say to yourself, 'Well, if this is God's plan, it's very peculiar,' and you have to wonder about that guy's personality — the big guy's personality. And the thing is — I may have told you last time that I believe in God — what I'm saying now is I choose to believe in God, but I have serious doubts and I refuse to be pinned down to something that I said 10 or 12 years ago. I'm totally inconsistent.
The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, what about the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us first class children of God! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, with everyone doing his own part; if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of meeting: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good! We shall meet there.
Here's an attempt by Catholics to defend his remarks. Do you agree? I'd love to hear from my Catholic friends on this.
I'm preaching on the parables of Jesus over the summer. Here are some key books I'm using...
Very excited about Jerram Barrs' new book, Echoes of Eden: Reflections on Christianity, Literature, and the Arts.
Been looking forward to it for a while, on an important topic that I think Barrs is well-equipped to tackle. Barrs was formerly involved for 18 yeas with Francis Schaeffer and L'Abri. Now he teaches at Covenant Theological Seminary and is Resident Scholar at the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute
You can get Echoes of Eden now at Amazon (Kindle), WTS, and amazingly for $2 you can get the eBook from Crossway!
The National: Trouble Will Find Me | 8.4 Pitchfork "Best New Music"
Delusions of Adequacy: "The National are such a powerfully gifted band, they need no theatrics to deliver an absolutely stone-cold beast of an album. With the music that is on here there is yet another thirteen songs to savor and salivate over until the next batch of songs comes about."
Daft Punk: Random Access Memories | 8.8 Pitchfork "Best New Music"
The Telegraph: "Their return should be heralded from on high, because it is the boldest, smartest, most colourful and purely pleasurable dance album of this decade."
My friend, Darryl Dash, attends a study group for pastors that I've known about for a while and is a great idea. Here's a blurb...
Every May I gather with a group of pastors from Monday to Friday. The agenda is simple: to work through a book of the Bible together as we think about preaching it. Every year we bring in a different scholar who has written a commentary on that book. We also have our former preaching professor (Haddon Robinson) help us think through how to preach that book.
We've had Bruce Waltke, George Guthrie, Douglas Moo, Daniel Block, and more. This week we've had D.A. Carson. It's hard to beat. I've been to a lot of conferences, but this by far is my favorite learning event of the year.
You should start one too.
Darryl goes on to explain how a study group can be started and run. You should check it out.
Tim Keller, through the lens of what he's learned from John Newton, thinks about how we deal with character flaws.
The final result of all this is that people cannot see their sins because they are looking only at their virtues. ...Christians do not work on the supernatural graces of the spirit that are not natural to us, and that mitigate or eliminate the dark side—the besetting sins—of our nature.
So how can we be shaken out of our lethargy and awakened to our need to grow? Here are some principles that I have gleaned from Newton’s letters over the years.
1. Know that your worst character flaws are the ones you can see the least.
2. Remember that you can’t learn about your biggest flaws just by being told—you must be shown.
3. Be willing to listen to correction and critique from others.
Been looking forward to the new Vampire Weekend album, Modern Vampires of the City, for quite some time. It's out today and you need to check it out. It's on sale for $7.99. Pitchfork gives it a remarkably strong review of 9.3/10 and it has already achieved more than ten reviews at 9/10 or higher.
You should be checking out Vampire Weekend's new album, Modern Vampires of the City, streaming free on iTunes. It's out tomorrow and I will be buying it.
The Handsome Family: Wilderness is an enjoyable listen. Stream it free. Soothing.
Still $5, but ending today, is Deerhunter: Monomania. I picked it up and really dig it. All Deerhunter stuff is excellent.
Do check out the $5 albums for May, including some of the best albums I own.
If you haven't heard of Colin Stetson, and most of you probably haven't, check this out. He plays for Bon Iver, but this is from his album New History Warfare Vol 3: To See More Light. Stick with it. Quite interesting. He does circular breathing, has a mic on his throat, a mic for percussion on his sax, and more. Wowzers.
I've been using the Cinch wallet for a few months now, and it's easily the best wallet I've owned.
There are three different options, two wood and one steel. I have the darker wood wallet. I figured I'd like the steel backbone better as it's thinner, but I think I'd rather choose a wood one because I can keep it in the same front pocket with my phone and don't have to worry about the wood scratching the screen. Love that aspect.
I keep credit cards, licence, insurance card, money, etc in my Cinch and I almost forget it's in my pocket. I highly recommend it. From the website...
Are you looking to trade in that overly stuffed and morbidly obese pain in the back wallet for an easy everyday carry? For all you minimalist lovers who believe less is more, we have the remedy! Birth out of a need (good-bye money clips, broccoli rubber bands and bulky wallets) we are proud to introduce you to CINCH; an American crafted, industrial style, minimalist wallet that simplifies your life and your pockets. Let the battle against the bulge begin!
Brand new album from one of my favorite bands, Deerhunter: Monomania, is out today and on sale for $5. It's one of the few albums I've anticipated weeks ahead of time in 2013. Pitchfork 8.3/10. It's excellent.
Joshua Elsom wrote a nice piece that you need to read: "Open-Air Preaching and the Missional Church." A blurb from the beginning...
The combining of the words ‘open-air’ with the word ‘preaching’ is likely to elicit a wide range of images and opinions in the mind of the person reading them. For some they bring to mind the great evangelists of the explosive revivals of the eighteenth century — Wesley, Whitefield, Tennent, and Edwards; or the prophets of the Old and New Testaments — Jeremiah, Isaiah, Peter, and Paul. While for others, these words conjure up negative images of angry street heralds, with sandwich boards strung over their shoulders, thundering down threatenings of heaven upon all who would wander unawares into their field of preaching. Whatever one happens to think about, few typically associate the practice of preaching in the public square with the missional church movement. Because the missional church places such a high priority on practicing evangelism in the context of ongoing discipleship — on mission and in community — the thought of preaching to strangers who are dissociated from church or discipling relationships may seem at first to be counterintuitive. It should not be.
Check out all my open-air preaching posts and quotes.
The Good Book Company has a growing list of solid books coming out lately. I want to recommend you check out a recent release: Serving Without Sinking by John Hindley. A blurb from the first chapter...
...this book isn't primarily about our service. It's mainly about Jesus Christ, and about His service. He said that He "did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10 v 45). He meant it. He was taken, beaten, tried, mocked, nailed, hung, cursed, judged, killed. He served. He loved.
So Jesus does not want you to measure your life by your service of Him. He does not want your service to get in the way of your love for Him. He did not come to be served by you--He came to serve you.
If we grasp this, then we will be set free to enjoy His love. And then, oddly, we will also be free to serve Him longer, harder, braver, truer than we ever could otherwise. This is joy, and we'll only find it in Christ.
Here's the promo video from John. Go get Serving Without Sinking (Amazon).
Here are the $5 albums I recommend for May.
This Huffington Post article by an anonymous writer is one of the most brutal examples of what a lot of parents think but don't say out loud. Here's how "My Wife Is Expecting Twins and I Am Not Happy About It" opens...
I've been doing some spying lately, casually asking friends and acquaintances about their experiences with having twins.
A buddy from college said of the first year: "Think of the worst thing you can imagine. That's what it was like."
An industry contact back from maternity leave said: "I literally couldn't wait to get back to work. Every weekend is way too long."
A former colleague was more blunt: "Twins were always my worst nightmare."
And now it's my and my wife's nightmare; we're expecting twins this August.
Read the rest. It's heartbreaking.
