Daily Links 12-17-13

In this morning's roundup: how to deal with a job you don't like, responding to the "In Christ Alone controversy", lessons from It's A Wonderful Life, and more.

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From the indispensable Art of Manliness, how to deal with a job you don't like. These are some really good tips that anyone in the workplace should consider since it's more than likely you're going to have at least one job you're not going to enjoy over the course of your career.

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Some thoughts on developing skills in critical thinking. This is something that's not only confined to reviewing books but in other areas as well. By the way, I agree with the author's assertion that it's a good idea to occasionally read books that I am not likely to line up with theologically. It is a helpful process.

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Bull Durham on Broadway? I'm not sure how I feel about that.

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Mark Driscoll has been a hot topic of conversation in Christian circles over a lack of citation of sources in his latest book. But that's not the real problem. Nor is plagiarism. The real problem is the lack of attribution for those who helped him write the book. 

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Keith Getty, co-writer of "In Christ Alone" responds to criticism of the song. Two groups had wanted a lyric changed that dealt with the fact that God's wrath was satisfied through Christ's death on the cross. Here is Getty's succinct answer on why it was important that the lyric was not changed:

First, it's important to express how truly honored we feel that these groups would consider adding "In Christ Alone" to their hymnals. We support the approach they take of studying the lyrics of hymns as they select music worthy to be sung and preserved. 

However, we believe altering the lyrics would remove an essential part of the gospel story as explained throughout Scripture. The main thread of what we see revealed throughout the Old and New Testament is the need for man to be made right with God. The provided path toward reconciliation came through Christ's predetermined and perfect sacrifice on the cross, satisfying God's wrath once and for all. The two hymnal committees wanted to change the lyrics to focus on how Christ's death on the cross magnifies God's love for the world. And indeed, God's love was magnified on Calvary's hill. Yet the way this occurred was through Christ doing for us what we could not do for ourselves—shedding his own perfect blood to atone for our sins.

Be sure to read the whole thing. (Hat tip: Challies)

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7 enduring lessons from It's a Wonderful Life.

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Finally, a little Calvin and Hobbes:

Daily Links 12-2-13

Good morning. Here are a few links to help start out your week. In today's edition: how to use e-mail more efficiently, learning from Ananias and Sapphira, how to be amazing at work, and more.

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The sudden deaths of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 should serve as a warning to Christians. J. D. Greear offers five lessons we should take away from this story.

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Productivity hack: using an e-mail autoresponder to help manage your inbox more efficiently. The beauty of this hack is it eliminates the need  for you to respond immediately and helps manage expectations of when people can expect to hear from you.

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Some very cool Dr. Who themed tea swag.

The TARDIS tea pot. Yes, it's bigger on the inside.

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Five tips on how you can stand out from the crowd at work.

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In 1963, 16 year-old Bruce McAllister was sick of hearing about symbolism in novels. But rather than argue with his teacher about it he went to the source: he wrote to 150 novelists and asked them about symbolism in their own novels. Amazingly, he got quite a few responses. Just goes to show it pays to correspond with novelists.

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25(!) brand names that are used as everyday words. I didn't realize that there were that many.

Daily Links 11-15-13

Links for your weekend reading: Unrequited love redeemed, the schedule makers, tea inspired by books, the best careers are not planned, and more.

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An essay on unrequited love redeemed. Now that's how to do the proposal.

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Putting together Major League Baseball's regular season schedule is no easy task. 30 teams, 162 games apiece. It's a logistical nightmare. The amazing thing is that for more than a quarter century the task has been completed by a husband and wife team using no more than a pencil and paper. Their story is featured here.

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Nothing accompanies a good book as well as a hot beverage. If you're a tea drinker and love books you will want to check out this line of teas inspired by classic literature.

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The best careers are not planned (Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds):

I was having a discussion with a friend recently about career planning. I told him that I had received some advice about my career plan. I had been told that I need a more defined career plan and need to control where my career is going. Some of the advice was solid. For instance, I was told that I need to identify my weaknesses and find ways to improve them or get the experience required for my dream job. True. But I was also told that I need to work out the details right down to choosing a region and finding organizations in that region for networking. That seemed a bit intense to me. I was assured that I could apply my own personal metrics and essentially control my career path. 

My friend asked me how old the person offering the advice is and I gave the age. My friend grinned and said, "Oh, well that is young enough to think he can control those things." 

I love that answer. 

I love it because we are all told to plan and try to control every aspect of our lives to win the prize of career, money or other desired goal. The problem is that our ability to control really stops at the end of our fingertips. We can only control ourselves (and in some instances that is complicated and difficult).

This article really resonates with me because my current career is not at all what I had planned coming out of college. A lot of folks I have talked to have had the same experience. Rarely do we end up pursuing as a career what we think we will.

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Aaron Armstrong continues his series on improving your bible study with a helpful list of technological aids.

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Dr. Timothy George offers his perspective in the debate over Strange Fire.

Daily Links 11-7-13

How the Internet affects your brain, an update in the war on boys, calling vs. career, and more in this morning's roundup of links.

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How the internet is rewiring your brain. This is both fascinating and scary at the same time. (Hat tip: Stephen Mansfield)

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The latest story in the continuing war on boys via Christina Hoff Somners:

Being a boy can be a serious liability in today’s classroom. As a group, boys are noisy, rowdy and hard to manage. Many are messy, disorganized and won’t sit still. Young male rambunctiousness, according to a recent study, leads teachers to underestimate their intellectual and academic abilities. “Girl behavior is the gold standard in schools says psychologist Michael Thompson. “Boys are treated like defective girls.”

These “defective girls” are not faring well academically. Compared with girls, boys earn lower grades, win fewer honors and are less likely to go to college. One education expert has quipped that if current trends continue, the last male will graduate from college in 2068. In today’s knowledge-based economy, success in the classroom has never been more crucial to a young person’s life prospects. Women are adapting; men are not.

Hat tip: Nancy Pearcey

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John Ortberg on calling versus career:

American society does not talk much about calling anymore. It is more likely to think in terms of career. Yet, for many people a career becomes the altar on which they sacrifice their lives. Benjamin Honeycutt, a historian who specializes in the history of work at the University of Iowa, notes that work has become our new religion, where we worship and give our time. As people’s commitment to family, community and faith are shrinking, they begin to look to their careers to provide them with meaning, connectedness, identity and self-esteem.

A calling, which is something I do for God, is replaced by a career, which threatens to become my god. A career is something I choose for myself; a calling is something I receive. A career is something I do for myself; a calling is something I do for God. A career promises status, money or power; a calling generally promises difficulty and even some suffering – and the opportunity to be used by God. A career is about upward mobility; a calling generally leads to downward mobility.

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A cool collection of Scrabble themed gifts.

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A fascinating list of 10 celebrities who also were spies.

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It's not our job to "police" other Christians:

In my experience as a Christian and Preacher, you would think that any disagreements, arguments, or debates I'd have would be with the non-Christian, the atheist, or those from other religions, but not true. It seems anytime I've had a disagreement with someone over Christianity it is always a fundamental or legalistic Christian who feels it's their mission and life's work to be God's police to the world. 

These types of people make it their personal mission in life to prove others wrong, be right, argue, debate, belittle, name-call, and look down on those who do not line up with them whether doctrinally, theologically, denominationally, or other church or faith issues.  It's a mind-set of either you are for me or against me.  You either agree with me or you are a liberal, heretic, sodomite, watered-down, ignorant, stupid, (add you own description here), I've been called a lot.  The sad thing is I don't like to argue(really!), but some folks can't seem to understand that, their whole faith system is made up of proving others wrong, being right, and making a point to "police" Christians.

Joe Girardi Made A Tough Call the Right Way

I'll admit I'm a little disappointed that Joe Girardi decided to re-sign with the Yankees. As a Cubs fan, I had high hopes that he might go to Chicago. I even wrote a post last week outlining, in a baseball-only sense, the reasons that he should consider leaving. Whether he made the right call will only become evident over time. But as his press conference showed, he went about making this decision the right way. From ESPN:

"After talking with my family, we decided that this was where we wanted to come back," Girardi said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday afternoon. "It's a special place to manage because of the opportunity that you have every year and the tools that they give you. The history of this organization is unbelievable. There are special things that happen here every year."

But in the end, it came down to the values Girardi said he has always held most dear: His family, and his love of competition.

"We talked [about] the possibility about a lot of things basically that I could possibly do if I decided not to manage," Girardi said. "We brought up everything, and we did it as a group. My kids love coming to the ballpark. Sometimes you feel like you're missing things that they're doing, but they love the tradeoff, and that allows me to do what I love to do, and that's to manage."

The fact that he discussed the decision with his family first says a lot about where his priorities lie. Many men would consider a job change without even considering the effect that such a decision will have on his family.

It's hard to predict how the next few years will go for Girardi and the Yankees. But this much is certain: Girardi has his priorities in order. That means considering what's best for this family even if that mean giving up a better job opportunity.