Weekend Links 12-22-17

Here are some interesting things I found on the internet this week.

Why has "Fixer Upper" been such a success? 

Viewers tuned in to ‘Fixer Upper’ to be reminded that—in spite of all the voices insisting otherwise—maturity, family, and faith are possible. They tuned in for hope.

Read the whole thing.


Classy move: last week the St. Louis Cardinals traded outfielder Stephen Piscotty to the Oakland A's so he could be closer to his mother who is battling ALS.

This is interesting: how It's A Wonderful Life went from box office dud to Christmas classic. It was because of a clerical error.

This past Sunday, Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, known as the busiest airport in the United States, suffered a power outage stranding thousand of passengers. Chick-Fil-A, which is famously closed on Sundays, sprang into action to feed the stranded travelers.

In light of the recent elections some Christians are reticent to use the term evangelical. An interesting read. Also, a helpful explanation from Tim Keller why there is such hesitation among Christians to call themselves evangelicals.

Christmas time in our house means lots of Hallmark Channel movies. Based on the ratings, we're not alone. Here's the reason why Hallmark movies are such a big deal this time of year. (Hat tip: Acculturated)

When we're not binge watching Hallmark Christmas movies, we are working our way through Season 2 of The Crown. One of the most surprising elements is the emphasis on Queen Elizabeth's faith. Like a lot of other people I am surprised by how popular the series is here in the United States.

This is neat: Russell Moore on how his ministry was twice saved by A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Instead of selling their multi-million dollar mansion and making a profit, Texas Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels and his wife decided to donate the property to underprivileged kids instead.

One of the biggest dilemmas parents face this time of year is whether to tell their kids the truth about Santa Claus.  The best thing to do is not lie to your kids.

Finally, my daughter introduced me to this version of the a Christmas classic this week. It's quickly becoming one of my favorites.

Daily Links 12-18-13

Good morning! In today's roundup of links: bestowing a long overdue honor, surprising ways to make decisions, Frozen, Saving Mr. Banks, Tim Keller on pastors who write books, and more.

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Tony LaRussa, Bobby Cox, and Joe Torre are all being inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame next year for their managerial careers and rightly so. But there's another inductee who is receiving some long overdue recognition as well: Roger Angell. Follow the link for a sampling of his terrific work. (Hat tip: Book Riot)

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Six surprising ways to make decisions. It's an interesting list.

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Another interesting review of Mansfield's Book of Manly Men: An Utterly Invigorating Guide to Being Your Most Masculine Self.  Perhaps most interesting is that it is written by a woman.

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Disney celebrates sisterly love in Frozen. Haven't seen it yet (at least as of the writing of this post) but plan to take the family soon.

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Speaking of Disney, another movie I am looking forward to seeing is Saving Mr. Banks. Here's a list of 10 things you should know about this real life story.

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Tim Keller on whether pastors should consider writing as part of their ministry and when they should start to write books:

Pastors can write as a valid part of pastoral ministry. It is part of the ministry of the Word. The ministry of the Word does not mean only the spoken word. But when they should write is the question.

I don't think ministers should produce much in the way of book-length writing in the first half or even two-thirds of their ministry. Why? 

1. Because they are still growing in their wisdom and understanding of the Word, and they are likely to change their mind on some things. 

2. Because (yes) it will distract them from the two main ways they can grow into wise and skillful ministers with something to say. Those two things are regular preaching/teaching and a lot of pastoral involvement. 

3. I think younger ministers should earn their credibility through building up some fruitful and effective ministries. That takes literally all one's time for a long time. They should not divert valuable time for ministry to writing. I know that if a young minister sees his church grow rapidly he will be bombarded with offers to write books, but even if his church grows to thousands of people by the time he is in his early 30s, he is still not really time-tested, nor does he yet have the insights and knowledge of the Bible he will have later.

4. If you wait to write until you are older, the writing will go much faster, because you will have reams of material and many layers of thought about a lot of subjects and texts. Writing a book in your 50s will go twice as fast and be twice as good as if you try the same book in your 30s. It's just good stewardship to wait.

Hat tip: Justin Taylor via Twitter

Daily Links 9-16-13

Spies, bookish art, marriage as a covenant, and more in today's links.

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The beauty queen who was Winston Churchill's favorite spy and might have been the inspiration for Vesper Lynd in Ian Fleming's Casino Royale.

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Some really cool bookish art:

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Tim Keller on The Marriage Covenant:

In sharp contrast with our culture, the Bible teaches that the essence of marriage is a sacrificial commitment to the good of the other. That means that love is more fundamentally action than emotion. But in talking this way, there is a danger of falling into the opposite error that characterized many ancient and traditional societies. It is possible to see marriage as merely a social transaction, a way of doing your duty to family, tribe and society. Traditional societies made the family the ultimate value in life, and so marriage was a mere transaction that helped your family’s interest. By contrast, contemporary Western societies make the individual’s happiness the ultimate value, and so marriage becomes primarily an experience of romantic fulfillment. But the Bible sees GOD as the supreme good – not the individual or the family – and that gives us a view of marriage that intimately unites feelings AND duty, passion AND promise. That is because at the heart of the Biblical idea of marriage is the covenant.

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Tips for changing your reading habits. I think I would be a much more effective reader if I applied all three of these tips.

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Four in Ten College Grads Don't Need a Degree for Their Work

A majority of American workers have jobs that do not require a college degree, according to a new Gallup. This finding wouldn’t be particularly surprising if it were only blue-collar workers saying this, but the poll also found that four in ten college grads agreed that they don’t need a college degree for the work they do.

It’s not exactly a shock at this point that college grads haven’t been able to make the most of their degrees, but when nearly half of the country’s college students are wasting money on degrees that they believe have done nothing to prepare them for their jobs, there’s obviously a problem. These findings can’t be chalked up entirely to undergraduates’ poor choices; college degrees have increasingly become prerequisites for jobs that could easily be performed by high school grads. In many cases, employers are just looking to a college degree as a quick signifier of an applicant’s determination and work ethic, not as a sign of skills learned.

Hat tip Instapundit