Each Friday I throw at least four suggested reads, listens, learnings, gadgets, movies, or restaurants out for your consideration. Several hundred folks subscribe, and hundreds more read these on Facebook or Twitter feeds. Regardless of how you receive these recommendations, thanks for joining me! These aren’t doctrinal or theological statements, they are simply suggested items that I’ve enjoyed, or found to be helpful.
Here is today’s 4forFRIDAY – Enjoy!
A Great Read for Men or Women – Especially Wives: Why Men Don’t Change By Gary Thomas
What if your husband isn’t motivated by your pain? What if he’s only motivated by his?Many wives live with great frustration because they keep telling their husbands that something he is doing (or not doing) is causing them great pain, but the husband never changes. This confuses the wife. She thinks, “If I knew I was doing something that was really hurting him, I’d stop it as soon as I found out. Why won’t he?” The answer, according to my friend Dr. Melody Rhode (a gifted marriage and family therapist), is “functional fixedness.”
A Really Good Read: Befriend: Create Belonging in an Age of Judgment, Isolation, and Fear by Scott Sauls
We live in a world where real friendship is hard to find. Suspicious of others and insecure about ourselves, we retreat into the safety of our small, self-made worlds. Now more than ever, it’s easy to avoid people with whom we disagree or whose life experiences don’t mirror our own. Safe among like-minded peers and digital “friends,” we really don’t have to engage with those who can challenge and enhance our limited perspectives. Tragically, even the church can become a place that minimizes diversity and reinforces isolation. Jesus models a much richer vision of friendship. In BeFriend, popular teacher, Scott Sauls, invites us to see and savor the broad and deep love of God. In twenty-one eloquent meditations on what God’s love can look like in our everyday lives, Scott invites us to expand our circle of friends.
A Great Listen: Alison Krauss, Windy City
My friend, John Corn recommended this album that was released earlier this month, and I’ve listened to it over and over. It’s country meets crooner, meets the blues. It’s the kind of tunes that seem to urge you to chill a bit and enjoy the journey. Let me know what you think!
A Challenging Watch/Listen from TED Talks:
Dan Gilbert: The surprising science of happiness
Dan Gilbert, the author of “Stumbling on Happiness,” challenges the idea that we’ll be miserable if we don’t get what we want. Our “psychological immune system” lets us feel truly happy even when things don’t go as planned. This TED Talk isn’t faith-based but is fascinating to me. Expert thinkers, around the globe are seeking the prescription for happiness. Although I found this interesting and challenging, I think true happiness is found in true joy, which is found in walking with and obeying the Divine.
A Quote that I’m Pondering:
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Bonus Recommendation: How do you survive when you see injustice every day?
David has been working with Tearfund in South Sudan for the last three months as a Grants and Information Officer. He puts together funding applications and reports on projects in the area, collecting case studies and researching the needs of local people. Here he honestly opens up about what life is really like when you’re faced with injustice every day and asks, ‘Where is God?’ in all of this.
Thanks again for connecting with my 4forFRIDAY. I’d appreciate your consideration to subscribe to my Weekday BLOG as well.
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Have a Great Friday!
AChuck
Don’t forget that we are in a very cool teaching series at Sugar Hill Church – 4theLOVE!
See you there this Sunday at 9:30, 11:00 and of course, Streaming Live.
