Thanksgiving
Our Pilgrim Heritage
A brief Thanksgiving reflection from Barry York.

A Thanksgiving prayer
Bob Kellemen goes back to the Puritans for a beautiful expression of worshipful thanksgiving.

Ministry
Preaching with the grain
Jared Wilson tries to put “unction” into words. Doesn’t it make you long for more of such moments?

7 Things which help me focus
Never easy to get back into the work groove after a holiday. Ron Edmondson has some helpful tips.

Technology
Teachers and cyberbaiting
You’ve heard of cyberbullying. Now you can learn about cyberbaiting.

Apple’s Four Principles of Success
Apple’s Greg Joswiak describes Apple’s four principles of success: focus, simplicity, courage, and best. And if you’re a real fanboy here’s an infographic of Apple’s history.

Counseling
Gaining a Balanced Picture on God’s Counsel
It’s worth setting aside ten minutes to read and study Stuart Scott’s important article on the vital balance between Gospel Indicatives, Gospel Imperatives, and Gospel Worship. Stuart’s also provided some excellent graphics which would be a huge help in teaching this to a Sunday School or Bible Study class.

A Theologically Informed Approach to Sexual Abuse Counseling
Bob Kellemen’s ETS paper is a 30-45 minute read, but it might save you many hours of fruitless counseling in the future.

Preaching
Here’s a podcast I did with Kevin Thomson about How Sermons Work.

Four Interpretive Guidelines for Understanding Jesus’ Parables
How come people like R C Sproul can make it all so simple?

Technology
Contact lenses that display your emails!
Well, so far, they can only display one pixel, but it’s a start.

Politics
Searching for the perfect candidate
Cal Thomas’s analysis sounds similar to some pastoral search committees criteria!
“The best candidate would clearly be a composite of the eight still standing: Mitt Romney’s business sense and debating skills; Newt Gingrich’s experience in Washington and knowledge of how to tear down the enormous bureaucracy and make government function the way the founders intended; Herman Cain’s political passion and the added bonus of being a conservative African-American; Ron Paul’s fealty to the Constitution and his call for America to rethink its military role in the world; Jon Huntsman’s knowledge of China, which will remain important for decades; Rick Santorum’s and Michele Bachmann’s strong moral voices (along with her singular feminine voice) in an age of societal flux; and Rick Perry’s Southwestern values and evangelical faith.”

Education
Five ways to make more time to read
Maybe once I’ve had time to read this, I’ll be able to read Lit! Tony Reinke’s new book on reading.

Or maybe it’s just a new desk I need…

Did you know?

• This year’s drought cost Texas $5.2 billion in lost agricultural production
• The future of the Texas economy depends on water availability
• Global demand for clean water will outstrip supply by an average of 40% by 2030
• Just as oil played a major role in 20th century wars, many believe many 21st century conflicts will be over water
• The most water-aware companies will aso be the most resilient and stable
• Companies like Coca-Cola and Nestle now publish “water footprints” per product line
• You have a water footprint

Yes, you do. In fact, you can calculate the size of your water footprint here (simpler version here). It’s pretty big and deep!

For example, if you drank apple juice for breakfast, that one glass cost 190 litres of water. It you had toast, you can add another 40 liters. Put cheese on it and you’re sinking in another 50 liters. And if your head is still above the water, don’t reach for the coffee because that will drown you in a further 140 liters of water (check out the stats here.)

So you can now add your water footprint to your carbon footprint and your ecological footprint.

Footprints everywhere. Didn’t know I had so many legs.

Anyone anywhere worried about their sin footprint? Is there a website for that? Is there an online calculator for that?