Daily Links 4-11-14

A roundup of links for your weekend reading pleasure. In today's edition: presidents and first pitches, what "essentialists" do, some neat wedding gifts, and more.

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The history of U. S. Presidents and ceremonial first pitches. This article will certainly enlighten you on how the practice got started.

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Say it ain't so: Hasbro has announced they are changing the rules for Monopoly.

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In praise of public libraries: a new book offers a wonderful collection of photographs of the most interesting libraries around.

Globe chandelier in the children's library, Central Library, Los Angeles, 2008

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NASA recently sold artifacts from the Apollo moon program at auction.

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Regular readers of this blog know that I frequently link to articles on improving productivity at work. But one author I have recently started following is Greg McKeown. I am intrigued by his upcoming book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. This article provides a nice summary of what his book is all about. Perhaps there is something to being an "essentialist".

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Kevin DeYoung reminds us that we need to pay careful attention to the issue of sexual purity. (Hat tip: Aaron Armstrong)

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Hollywood is missing out on an opportunity to tell some great stories. Six baseball biographies that would make great films.

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Five great kitchen tool wedding gifts you won't find in department stores.

Monogrammed cutting board by LetsEngraveIt

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Daily Links 3-10-14

Here's a collection of links to help start off your week: remembering C. S. Lewis, gifts for grammar geeks, why community is so hard to find, and more.

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Reflections from Douglas Gresham about his stepfather C. S. Lewis.

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A collection of gifts for grammar geeks.

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There's a secret corporation that controls America. Well, not exactly but that's almost right.

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Why do we have such a hard time finding community?

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In praise of long pastorates. I'm of the opinion that pastors should look to plant themselves in a church and stay there. (Hat tip: Challies)

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A collection of kitchen gadgets for the Firefly fan.

Daily Links 11-12-13

Your daily roundup of interesting items from the web. In today's edition: the disappearance of the gentleman athlete, choosing a study Bible, ending the worship wars, and more.

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Emily Esfahani Smith argues that the gentleman athlete has disappeared (hat tip: Glenn Reynolds).

On a related note, Bobby Jones is another very gifted athlete that also epitomized what it meant to also be a gentleman athlete. His story is wonderfully documented in Mark Frost's excellent book The Grand Slam. Jim Caviezel also portrayed Jones in the movie Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius which is one of my favorites.

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Aaron Armstrong is encouraging folks to get serious about Bible study. The first place to start is picking the right Bible. More specifically, picking a study Bible. There are lots of good tips here on how to pick the right Bible for you.

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Thom Rainer believes there are signs that the worship wars are coming to an end. I especially agree with his second point regarding the resurgence of hymnody.

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What Shark Tank can teach us about capitalism. While I don't get to see this show often the few times I have watched it I have found it compelling television.

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Is all sin the same to God? According to Tim Challies, the answer is yes and no.

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Here's a handy chart of kitchen weights, measures and more.

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Kevin DeYoung offers ten errors to avoid when talking about sanctification and the gospel:

With lots of books and blog posts out there about law and gospel, about grace and effort, about the good news of this and the bad news of that, it’s clear that Christians are still wrestling with the doctrine of progressive sanctification. Can Christians do anything truly good? Can we please God? Should we try to? Is there a place for striving in the Christian life? Can God be disappointed with the Christian? Does the gospel make any demands? These are good questions that require a good deal of nuance and precision to answer well. 

Thankfully, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The Reformed confessions and catechisms of the 16th and 17th centuries provide answers for all these questions. For those of us who subscribe to the Three Forms of Unity or to the Westminster Standards this means we are duty bound to affirm, teach, and defend what is taught in our confessional documents. For those outside these confessional traditions, there is still much wisdom you can gain in understanding what Christians have said about these matters over the centuries. And most importantly, these standards were self-consciously grounded in specific texts of Scripture. We can learn a lot from what these documents have to teach us from the Bible.