Coram Deo ~

Looking at contemporary culture from a Christian worldview

This and That


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THIS & THAT: A Gathering of Favorite Articles and Quotes

  • Biden’s New Regulation Reinforces Transgender ‘Orthodoxy’. Joe Carter writes “The Department of Education’s new rule’s expanding protections for LGBT+ students could lead to punishment for those who disagree with transgender orthodoxy.”
  • What the Pro-Palestinian Campus Protests are Really About. Carl Trueman writes “The recent pro-Palestinian student protests on elite university campuses across the country offer fascinating, if somewhat depressing, insights into the state of modern American culture. It is not so much that the lunatics have taken over the asylum as the kindergartners have taken over the nursery.”

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FAITH AND WORK: Connecting Sunday to Monday

Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

  • Goodwill’s CEO on Christian Leadership and the Fight for Opportunity. On this episode of the Gospelbound podcast, Steve Preston joins Collin Hansen to share about his journey and how his faith in God carries him through various decisions and leadership challenges as he fights to provide opportunities for others.
  • Worshipping God As We Work. Watch this message from Kara Martin delivered at the 2023 Annual Center for Faith & Work Los Angeles Conference.
  • Called to Lead. My book Called to Lead: Living and Leading for Jesus in the Workplace is available in both a paperback and Kindle edition. Read a free sample (Introduction through Chapter 2).

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Do You Love Your Work?

In Marcus Buckingham’s latest book Love and Work: How to Find What You Love, Love What You Do, and Do It for the Rest of Your Life, he tells us that to do anything great in your life, you will have to take seriously what you love and express it in some sort of productive way. I have enjoyed Buckingham’s work for a number of years, especially his work on strengths, and his 2007 book Go Put Your Strengths to work.
When Buckingham talks about strengths and weaknesses it may be a bit different from how you have always thought of them. For Buckingham, a strength is an activity that strengthens you, while a weakness is an activity that weakens you. It does not necessarily matter if the activity is something at which you are particularly good. There are just some activities that we love and some that we loathe. I worked with someone who was particularly good with budgets, and as a result was always asked to do our team’s budget work. But even though she was good at this activity, she hated it (loathed it), and it always weakened her. Do you have a similar example in your work – something you are particularly good at, but you hate doing? My wife Tammy is particularly good at accounting work, but she does not really like it, and it weakens her when she must do it. Continue reading


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MUSIC REVIEWS and NEWS


Our God Will Go Before Us: The Hymns of Matt Boswell and Matt Papa Vol. 3
****

With their third volume of modern hymns in the past five years, Matt Boswell and Matt Papa have served the church well with theologically sound hymns for congregational singing. I have thoroughly enjoyed all three volumes, and this one will again be one of my favorites – perhaps the favorite – albums of the year.
The album was recorded live at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville at the 2023 Sing! Conference. I enjoy hearing the crowd and conference choir adding their vocals to these songs. You can watch/listen to the performance of each song here.
There are a few guest artists on the album – Matt Redman, Sandra McCracken, Kristyn Getty, and Michael Cochran.

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  • Song of the Week Lyrics ~ All of My Days by Ellie Holcomb

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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

Right with God by Michael Reeves. Union Publishing. 35 pages. 2023      ****

Seminary president and professor Michael Reeves writes that this is a little book about being right with God. It is a book about the wonderful doctrine of justification.
The author tells us that to be justified is to be a sinner on whom God has graciously pronounced the verdict “righteous.” It is to be declared righteous, not slowly transformed to become righteous. We are justified when God announces the verdict that we have a righteous status before him. To be justified means to come before God the Father not righteous in myself but clothed with the righteousness of my perfectly righteous first-born brother.
The author utilizes a good deal of scripture in this book, as well as writings from Luther, Calvin, Bunyan, Sibbes and others. He states that Paul’s letter to the Romans gets to the heart of the apostle’s understanding of how to get right with God. He also looks at the objections to justification, beginning with the letter of James.

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BOOK CLUB ~ Truths We Confess by  R.C. Sproul
I’M CURRENTLY READING…. Continue reading


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A Prayer for Graduates

Our Father in Heaven,
As we approach the time of year in which we celebrate graduations at many levels, we pray for our graduates.

For the high school graduate, we pray that they would build on the foundation of knowledge they have, and the relationships they have made, over the last four years. They may be heading into the workforce, a technical or vocational school or to college. We pray that you would provide them wisdom for their next steps. High school is just four short years of our lives, but important events take place and life-long relationships are made in high school that help form who we are, and are remembered for the rest of our lives, including at class reunions.
For the college graduate, we pray for your guidance for their next steps in life. Those steps may include the beginning of their careers, maybe marriage and starting a family, or perhaps additional education. For those looking for a job and not having any success, we pray that you would comfort them with the presence of the Holy Spirit and a peace that surpasses understanding. Please give them patience and perseverance in this season of waiting. We pray that they would trust you to provide them a position in which they will serve you well with the skills and abilities you have blessed them with.
For those who will be getting married soon, we pray that you would be at the center of those marriages. For those continuing on in their education, we pray that they would be accepted into the universities of their choice, and that you would provide them with the needed finances and support system.
For the seminary graduate, we pray that you would provide them a call into ministry, where they can apply what they have worked so hard to learn. That call may be to the church, a Christian ministry or into the general marketplace.

Father, thank you for helping our graduates persevere in their studies and activities, for giving them strength and energy to continue on when they couldn’t on their own. Thank you for helping them study for exams and write papers. Now, please give them wonderful celebrations with family and friends as they look forward to new beginnings. We ask that you would continue to care for them and guide their lives as they live Coram Deo, in the presence of, and before  your face O God.
In Jesus precious name we pray, Amen


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THIS & THAT: A Gathering of Favorite Articles and Quotes

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  • Favorite Quotes of the Week

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FAITH AND WORK: Connecting Sunday to Monday

Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

  • Graves, Gardens & God at Work. John Pletcher writes “There is an oft-overlooked detail in the resurrection morning story. It’s a curious inclusion that holds potential for answering these questions. It might also bolster our faith at work.”
  • Mere Christians: Scott Sonju. On this episode of the Mere Christians podcast, Jordan Raynor visits with Scott Sonju, Managing Director of TrailRunner International. They talk about why viewing sports as trivial diminishes God’s sovereignty, why we’re tempted to assign priority where God does not, and how Christians should think differently about free enterprise.
  • Why Do You Love What You Do (And Not Something Else)? Tim Challies writes “One of my favorite questions for times of small talk is “Why do you do what you do instead of doing something else?”

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Leadership Attributes: Continuous Learning  


In our series on leadership attributes, we now look at continuous learning. In the organization I worked in my entire career we used to say that “school was never out”, to indicate a life-long learning mentality. That’s an approach every leader should have, as good leaders never stop learning. Continue reading


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MUSIC REVIEWS and NEWS


CMT Campfire Sessions – NEEDTOBREATHE
****

NEEDTOBREATHE recently appeared on CMT Campfire Sessions television series. This album of the band performing nine of their songs unplugged is from that episode. The only time I have seen the band in concert was on one of their acoustic tours. The band has previously released a few live albums, both full band and acoustic. They are an outstanding live band, and they approve that again here.
The songs included here span the band’s career, ranging from one of their early favorites “The Outsiders” to “Wasting Time” and “Temporary Tears” from their 2023 album CAVES, my favorite album of last year. Alana Springsteen joins the band on “Let’s Stay Home Tonight”.
You can listen to the album in its entirety on the band’s YouTube channel.

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  • Song of the Week Lyrics ~ Completely Known, Completely Loved by Matt Boswell and Matt Papa

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