Mullings & Musings...

• "John Stott has Died" (One of my favorite theologians to read...)

"Stott believed in the mind as a gift from God. In an evangelical world tempted to rely on proof texts and emotive stories, Stott drilled down deep into Scripture to display its power. Many people, hearing Stott preach for the first time, said they had never heard the Bible expounded with such clarity and depth. His passion was to learn what God said, and to let it shape life. Stott's preaching and writing renewed faith in the inspiration of Scripture—not only because he defended it, but because he displayed it."

• "5 Weak Words that Make your Writing Less Effective" (always good to learn and to keep on learning...)

"Words are the lifeblood of your writing. They’re what you use to build credibility or diminish it.

Words matter. They’re what make your arguments more compelling, your prose stronger, and your craft more captivating.

Untrained writers can be careless with their words. It takes discipline to use these tools well."

• "Effectual Worrying" (well... hmmm... I needed that.)

"Yet he provided despite my worry, not because of it. He provided to show me that I didn’t have to worry, that he was faithful, that he cared. Every time I worried, every time I lay awake at night, I declared that I still did not trust him to provide for us. I declared that my faith was weak..."

• "Dear World: Please Wake Up" (Totally ditto-ing these sentiments!!!)

"I get it. We’re all exhausted. We’re all concerned about the economy, the budget, issues in our own backyard, our personal finances, our churches, etc. Heck, we all did our part in Haiti and Japan. We all have other commitments and causes. We belong to “other tribes” that do work in “other” parts of the world.

I get it. I really do. You’re tired. We’re all fatigued.

But don’t mistake donor fatigue with compassion fatigue.

Never stop caring. You can’t wrap your head around suffering without your heart. We still need to respond to this epic humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa that Oxfam is predicting may grow to impact 15 million people."

• "The Stone" (I just LOVED this - a bit long, but consider it an investment!)

“My grandfather wanted to teach my mother a valuable lesson about the difference between value and worth. So as they cut this stone together, he made her promise she would never find out what its worldly value was. He told her that it wasn’t the amount of money it could fetch, but rather the fact that it had worth. He had mined it on his own land and they had cut it together. That was what gave it worth-not the dollar amount.”