The Latest Ten

Here's the plan. I just keep furling sites that get my attention, and when I get ten of them I tell you what they are.

But first, I would be remiss if I did not every now and then draw your attention to a couple of my favorite blogs. 1) Out of the Bloo consistently models the quality and character that I want my own blog to reflect. Although you could begin anywhere, because Bill is just consistently readable, you might try Barren No Longer for a sample of Bloo's best.

And then there's 2) Transforming Sermons. Milton is a sort of one-man blog aggregator. But unlike an aggregator, Milton sifts the Christian blogosphere for only the very best. A daily dose will do you good. Start, but don't stop, with an excellent recent post like A Key to the Message of Romans.

In fact, it was from Milton that I learned about 3) Stronger Church. I really like his post of a few weeks back, What's Christianity All About? In a variation on the old Hindu parable about the 4 blind men and the elephant, four searchers go in search of Christianity. You won't be surprised to find they came up with varying conclusions, depending on source of their information.

4) Rebecca Writes has been a blogging friend nearly from the beginning. Blogging technology has made known to the many those excellent teachers whom God has scattered like salt throughout his world-community (his kingdom), and Rebecca is one of them. Her recent series is, as usual, exceptional. It's a commentary on Ephesians 2, called "His Workmanship." Begin here, then move on to here, here, and here. Read and savor.

5) Speaking of "commentary blogging," Broken Messenger (who happens to be new to my blogroll) is doing the same, working from 1 Peter 2:5-8. The series is entitled "Add to Your Faith . . . Goodness." [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3]. Good stuff.

6) Mike of Shaulah.com (formerly "Blogging Teen") is another old blogging friend. Early on he wrote to me to give me some basic blogging advice, which was much appreciated. These days he's in the midst of reading the Bible from cover to cover in 40 days! I figure that's about 30 chapters per day. Talk about total immersion! Mike, I pray that the Word would dwell in you richly during this time, enriching your soil.

7) Aron Gahagan used to be an assistant pastor at a church near me. I heard him preach once, and signed up for his mailing list. Next thing you know, the young fella's got a blog all his own: Some thoughts. I recommend it. Postage-stamp bio: he's 30, has been accepted at Wheaton for graduate study, and loves to quote the Puritans. For a good sample of his work, you might start with Why I Read.

8) The Japery is the blog of the online lit-journal, The New Pantagruel. In a post entitled Shock Therapy, they quote at length from Richard Selzer's Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery. There's little I can add, except to say it's a powerful testimony concerning "the culture of death." I simply pray that everyone would read this.

9) You'll find it on my sidebar list of devotionals. It's called Day by Day Grace and is the work of Bob Hoekstra, who is director of Living in Christ Ministries, which is a discipleship program affiliated with the Calvary Chapel churches. I like this devotional a lot. Simple as that.

10) Finally, Craig at Tabletalk has a been posting a series called "Narnian Musings." He's up to #10 at this point, but I want to direct your attention to the seventh in this series, about the dragoning of Eustace. In the course of this one, Craig quotes Eugene Peterson. I love this quote so much, I just want to follow suit:

But the minute we start advertising the faith in terms of benefits, we're just exacerbating the self problem. 'With Christ, you're better, stronger, more likeable, you enjoy some ecstasy.' But it's just more self. Instead, we want to get people bored with themselves so they can start looking at Jesus.

We've all met a certain type of spiritual person. She's a wonderful person. She loves the Lord. She prays and reads the Bible all the time. But all she thinks about is herself. She's not a selfish person. But she's always at the center of everything she's doing. 'How can I witness better? How can I do this better? How can I take care of this person's problem better?' It's me, me, me disguised in a way that is difficult to see because her spiritual talk disarms us.

Oh, amen and amen and amen. May you, Jesus, take your rightful place at the very center of all my thoughts and feelings today.