Coram Deo ~

Looking at contemporary culture from a Christian worldview

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THIS & THAT: A Gathering of Favorite Articles and Quotes

  • Retirement: What are you retiring from? What are you retiring to? Keith Knight writes “Most of us can expect to live 20 to 30 years after we reach retirement age. That’s an entire career! Prayerfully take a sabbatical to determine where God wants you to serve next and who you should be mentoring. Then approach this new chapter in your life with the same zeal that you had in your former career.“
  • Daily Grace. Each weekday morning, I watch Bryan Chapell’s Daily Grace video devotional as he takes us through the Bible.
  • Why Our Age Celebrates Desecration. Carl Trueman writes “This world isn’t characterized simply by disenchantment. It’s also characterized by a delight in the destruction of things once considered sacred.”
  • We Can Simultaneously Make Room in Our Hearts for God, People, and Animals. Randy Alcorn writes “One of the strangest assumptions people sometimes make is that if we love animals, we can’t sufficiently love God and But love is not a zero-sum game.”

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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

  • A Good Tired. Daniel Darling writes “There is a difference between a frustrated “sick of this mess” type of fatigue and what my dad used to call “A good tired”.
  • 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).
  • Does Every Person Have a Calling? Gene Veith writes “We usually think of vocation and calling in terms of a job or profession, but it means much more than that.”
  • Does God Have One Perfect Job for You? Megan Taylor writes “While it is true that God knows our career path from entry to retirement, the idea that there is a “perfect job” out there for you may stem from a faulty understanding of God’s will in relation to your calling.”

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  • More links to interesting articles
  • The Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
  • Faith and Work Book Review ~ Beyond Basketball: Coach K’s Keywords for Success by Mike Krzyzewski with Jamie Spotola
  • Quotes from the book Working for Better: A New Approach to Faith at Work by Elaine Howard Ecklund and Denise Daniels

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My Review of ‘A Great Awakening’

A Great Awakening – rated PG
****

This film tells the story of the unlikely relationship of Ben Franklin and evangelist George Whitefield, connecting that relationship to the Great Awakening, the American Revolution and the Constitutional Convention. The well-made and acted film was directed by Joshua Enck, who co-wrote the film with Jeff Bender and Jonathan Blair.
Franklin is played by John Paul Sneed. He was the tenth son of his father – his tithe. His father wanted him to be a pastor, but Franklin had no interest in that. He wanted to be a printer.
Whitefield is played by Jonathan Blair, one of the film’s writers. He was trained to be an orator, and had a powerful voice. While at Oxford, he met John and Charles Wesley. He was born again, and baptized, but most likely not by immersion as the film depicts.

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MUSIC REVIEWS and NEWS

All I Have is Christ: The Hymns of Jordan Kauflin
****

Jordan Kauflin is a worship pastor, and writes songs for churches to sing, primarily with Getty Music and Sovereign Grace Music. This album of ten songs, each of which Kauflin wrote, or co-write, was recorded at the 2025 Sing! Getty Worship Conference in Nashville, and was produced by Nathan Nockels. The album includes a number of special guests, including Laura Story, CityAlight, Kristyn Getty, Bob Kauflin, and Bryan Fowler. The album includes four new hymns and six favorites that are sung by churches around the world.
In my reviews I usually list my favorite songs on the album. I’m not going to do that this time as all of the songs are excellent – well written and performed.
Below are a few comments about each of the ten songs:

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  • More of this review and a review of Live from the Ryman by Wilder Woods
  • Music News
  • Song of the Week Lyrics ~ “Say So” by Jordan Kauflin and Bryan Fowler

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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

The Shepherd Leader at Home: Knowing, Leading, Protecting, and Providing for Your Family by Timothy Witmer. Crossway. 167 pages. 2012
*** ½   

Timothy Witmer follows up his excellent book The Shepherd Leader, which was focused on the church, with a volume for the shepherd leader at home. He tells us that the purpose of the book is to help families by helping husbands and dads become loving shepherds of their families. The strategy is to apply the biblical shepherding categories of knowing, leading, providing, and protecting to leadership in the home. These shepherding functions represent four of the most fundamental human needs that God meets through those who lead families. Each of the four parts begins with an introduction showing its biblical rationale.
The focus is on all men who are called to lead their families at home. Throughout the book, the author shares many examples to illustrate the points he makes. The book is intentionally practical, personal, and heart-to-heart.

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BOOK REVIEWS ~ More of this review…
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~ Tim Keller on the Christian Life: The Transforming Power of the Gospel by Matt Smethurst
I’M CURRENTLY READING…. Continue reading →


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THIS & THAT: A Gathering of Favorite Articles and Quotes

  • Spiritual Formation and the Reformation: Comer, Willard, Calvin. Is spiritual formation that moves beyond the practices of the Reformation what we need to help with our disillusionment with evangelicalism? Michael Horton discusses the contemporary spiritual formation movement most notably associated with John Mark Comer and heavily influenced by the late Dallas Willard, and compares its emphases to the hallmarks of Reformation piety.
  • How to Let Scripture Interpret Scripture. Benjamin Gladd and Nancy Guthrie outline principles for making sound biblical connections, tracing themes in the text, and avoiding common pitfalls of biblical interpretation.
  • FOREVERGREEN. Enjoy the Academy Award nominated animated short film with a gospel message. The thirteen-minute film was directed by Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears. Read Brett McCracken’s interview with Engelhardt and Spears about the making of Forevergreen, how Christian artists tell stories, and what they think of AI’s disruption in the arts.

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FAITH AND WORK: Connecting Sunday to Monday

Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

  • Finding a Job That Fits. Are you in the right job? On this episode of Renewing Your Mind, R.C. Sproul gives practical guidance to help us seek a vocation where our gifts align with the motivation necessary to succeed.
  • The Multitasking Myth. Reagan Rose writes “What I’ve found is that disciplining myself to finish one task before moving to the next isn’t just more effective. It’s actually more fulfilling.”
  • Christlike Work in a Burnout Society. Kyle Tucker writes “In the malaise of modern work, God offers us a hopeful alternative. First Thessalonians 4:9–12presents a theology of work rooted in divine love, quiet ambition, and missional living.
  • Three Myths About Aging In the Third Third of Life. Amy Hanson writes “I have found that the third third of life tends to be viewed the most negatively in culture. We are conditioned at a young age to see aging as a bad thing and something to avoid.”

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  • More links to interesting articles
  • The Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
  • Work and Leadership Book Review ~ The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team by Mike Krzyzewski with Jamie K. Spatola
  • Quotes from the book Working for Better: A New Approach to Faith at Work by Elaine Howard Ecklund and Denise Daniels

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THIS & THAT: A Gathering of Favorite Articles and Quotes

  • How We Can Pursue Joy in the Midst of Suffering? In this video, John Piper shares how we can pursue joy in the midst of suffering.
  • Sabbath. After completing His work of creating the world, God rested—but not because He got tired and needed a break. On this episode of Simply Put, Barry Cooper explains how the Sabbath reminds us to regularly rest in God and enjoy the ultimate rest that He has given His people in Christ.
  • Hospitality: What it is, and What it’s Not. Rosaria Butterfield addresses this question in this short video.
  • How to Study the Bible. In this message, R.C. Sproul will introduce some of the more important tools and concepts that are necessary in order to properly study and understand the Bible.
  • What Did You Give Up When You Became a Christian? Tim Challies writes “You have exchanged what is fleeting for what is lasting and what brings death for what brings life.”

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My Review of ‘Project Hail Mary’

Project Hail Mary, rated PG-13
****

Project Hail Mary is a brilliant film adaptation of a science fiction novel written by Adam Weir, who also wrote The Martian, which became a film starring Matt Damon.
The film is directed by Oscar winners Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and written by Oscar nominee Drew Goddard (The Martian), and Andy Weir (The Martian). The film is based on Weir’s 2021 novel Project Hail Mary.
The film begins with Dr. Rylan Grace, splayed by three-time Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling (Barbie, La La Land, Half Nelson), waking up from an induced coma to find his two crewmates dead, and no memory of why he’s in a spaceship that is 12 light years from Earth and rapidly approaching a star called Tau Ceti. As his memory slowly returns, he begins to recall his mission. He remembers reluctantly explaining it to his middle school science class. It was called Project Hail Mary, and he had worked on it. Continue reading →


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MUSIC REVIEWS and NEWS

Far Country – Ellie Holcomb
*** ½ 

Ellie Holcomb returns with her fourth full-length studio album Far Country, a solid follow-up to Canyon, one of my favorite albums of 2021. The new album features eleven new songs born from a season of profound grief and spiritual exploration. Holcomb co-wrote all of the songs. The album was produced and engineered by Cason Cooley and executive produced by Holcomb’s father Brown Bannister, and Samantha Steele.
The songs feature Holcomb’s strong and expressive vocals. The album contains themes of being made for a different place, there having to be more than this, light, love, hope, and the goodness and mercy for the Lord.

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  • More of this review
  • Music News
  • Song of the Week Lyrics ~ It Really Is Amazing Grace by Phil Wickham and Crowder

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