Tag Archives: creativity

Saturday Six-Pack (7)

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Welcome to the weekend, for another installment of the Saturday Six-Pack.

Typically, these online offerings are faith-focused or ministry-geared, but occasionally they fall into the “disorderly pile of who-knows-what” description in my blog’s tagline!

This week’s half-dozen:

1) Proof of a Good God: ‘Crucified Under Pontius Pilate’
Thoughtfully written by Mark Galli, this piece looks at Jesus’ crucifixion as they key strand to answering the question: Can we trust God to be truly good?  Tie-ins are made to the discussion around Rob Bell’s “Love Wins”.

2) The ‘Above All’ Commandment of the Sabbath
Need a call from God to quit striving after transformation?  Look no farther than one of the Ten Commandments.

3) ‘Blue Like Jazz’ Opened Yesterday
The film based on Donald Miller’s best-selling book opened yesterday in select theaters.  Head here if you need some help catching up on this not-featured-on-Entertainment-Tonight piece of work.

4) The Good Life: An Interview with Trip Lee
I’ve never been a huge rap fan, but for some reason, I’ve been inundated with notice this week about Trip Lee’s latest release.  If you care to learn of the life and faith behind this rising artist, Tim Challies’ post is worth a bit of your weekend.

5) The Staggering Demand for Pornography
Chaplain Mike presents some shocking research on the vast power of the internet to spread this soul-crippling poison.  How do Christians pursue purity in the world-of-the-web?

6) Creativity Lessons from Charles Dickens and Steve Jobs
Every leader in our rapidly-changing world needs well-honed creativity.  The lives of Dickens and Jobs offer some helpful trends to notice in how creativity is nurtured.  So says Anne Kreamer of the Harvard Business Review.

There you have it, a Saturday smattering to fill you.  Have a great weekend, friends–renew yourself and reverence God.

Saturday Six-Pack (6)

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Welcome to the weekend, and thanks for spending some time “Wandering & Wondering”.

Typically, the Saturday Six-Pack features articles that are faith-focused or ministry-geared, but I reserve the right to live up to the “disorderly pile of who-knows-what” tagline at the top of this page!  This particular edition covers everything from conflict, to creativity, from iPhone addictions to inbred elephants. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

Without further delay:

1) Why Conflict in Life is Terrific
A better life can be found on the other side of conflict.  Donald Miller provides some guidance on how to navigate those potential-filled times of tension.

2) Creativity, Excellence,… and Patience
If you want to be great at whatever you do, then check this brief read out.  If you don’t want to be great at whatever you do, then find something else to do.

3) Our Hearts, Desperately Deceptive
If you can guess the connection between pears, prostitution, and the crookedness of the human heart, then don’t click on this one.  But if you can’t…

4) Quotes for Lent
The season of Lent is all but finished for another year, but this wonderful list of quotes might help you look back on the season that was and help you consider what God may have wanted to do in your life over the past forty days.

5) How Can I Stop Using My Phone all the Time and Actually Connect with Real People in the Real World?
After awarding this post with the longest-title-in-in-the-history-of-the-Saturday-Six-Pack trophy, I now direct any technology-trapped readers to rediscover the world that is NOT contained on that admittedly incredible screen in your pocket.  How to create a bit more freedom from the phone?  Read on.

6) Stop Inbreeding Innovation
Any article that begins with a paragraph about inbred elephants gets stuck in the Six-Pack; that is one of this blog’s founding principles.  That said, when the trunked beasts and their dangerously narrow family trees is set aside, what you’ll find here is a challenge to broaden your chances at fresh and creative ideas.  If you could use that, you could use a lesson in pachyderm sperm bank management first.

Have a great weekend, friends–renew yourself and reverence God.

Saturday Six-Pack (2)

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Welcome to the weekend, and thanks for spending some time “Wandering & Wondering”.

With the inaugural edition of “Saturday Six-Pack” out of the way, let me once again provide a half-dozen directions you might look for some fine online reading this fine day.

Typically, these articles are faith-focused or ministry-geared, but I reserve the right to live up to the “disorderly pile of who-knows-what” tagline at the top of this page!

In this edition:

1) Can We Prepare our Culture to Receive the Gospel
Justin Taylor provides this quote from “Christianity and Culture”, an essay written by J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937).  Living out faith within a culture that many describe as increasingly closed to Christianity, how might these words speak into what can or cannot be done in “opening doors”?

2) What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him
Byron Yawn has written a newly released book by this title, and Tim Challies provides this positive review of its contributions toward helping men become more the men, husbands, and fathers that God has created us to be.

3) How to Tell a Good Story with our Life
A few years back, Donald Miller wrote a book called “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years”, which challenged readers to consider their lives against the list of ingredients which compose all great stories.  How might we pursue a life comparable to the rich tales we love?  A much-shorter-than-the-book summary can be found here.

4) It’s Time to Move from Minutia to Movement
If you’re seeking spiritual revival, dreaming that it could happen in your church or country or lifetime, then this piece by Mark Driscoll may feed (or fuel) your hunger.

5) Your Best Creative Time is Not When You Think
The tag line of this article, from Scientific American, says this: “Morning people have more insights in the evening. Night owls have their breakthroughs in the morning.”  Translation: Out-of-the-box thinking, the type often needed to troubleshoot life, is a tad odd.  How to maximize it?  Start with this article.

6) Music for Lent
Searching for some fresh tunes for these pre-Easter days?  How about something that nudge you along in the classic Lent themes of struggle and sin moving into hope and even resurrection?  Go with Bruce Springsteen. Yes, the born-in-the-USA Bruce Springsteen.

Have a great weekend, friends–renew yourself and reverence God.