Andrew Gilmore's Blog, page 5

What I Read in 2021

 Three of my favorite books from 2021, plus I'm giving one of them away!

Kimberly Farmer

READING FOR PLEASURE took a hit this year ever since I started graduate school in June. At the same time, my family took a trip to Orlando to visit the Universal and Disney theme parks. The vacation was one of the highlights in a year filled with busyness, stress, and tragedy.
I still read quite a bit—maybe even more than last year—but a large portion of that time belonged to textbooks rather than trade books a...

Why God Might Be Thwarting Your Cravings

A preview of December's email-only article.

Kevin Turcios

Do you ever have cravings?
Every month I publish an exclusive article for my email subscribers, and this month we're talking about why God might be thwarting those yearnings you have. (If you'd like to join the club, fill out the form below. It's free!)
Here's how the article starts:

I think nearly every craving we have is an expression of a genuine, legitimate need whether physical or otherwise. 

The surface-level desire might be a bastardizat...

What You Need to Know about Job's Friends

Maybe this is why they were such jerks.

 

Matheus Ferrero

JOB'S FRIENDS SAID some pretty dumb things.

One guy, Eliphaz, said:

Are the comforts of God too small for you,

    or the word that deals gently with you?

Job 15:11

 
This was after Job lost everything and developed painful sores all over his body. That would be a bit like heading to a hospice facility to lecture the patients on time management skills.

Another friend, Bildad, said:

You who tear yourself in your anger, 

    shall the earth be forsaken...

What Did Job Mean We Should "Receive Evil" from God?

  A preview of November's email-only article.

Job on the Ash Heap: Job Berated by His Wife, Jusepe de Ribera (c. 1632)

Every month I publish an exclusive article for my email subscribers. (If you'd like to join the club, fill out the form below. It's free!)
In this month's subscriber email we're examining what Job meant when he said we should "receive evil" from God.
Here's how the article starts:

Stop me if you've heard this one.

A friend, family member, or coworker has a terrible thing happen. Car a...

Your Utmost Is Not Enough

Learning to trust God even when life doesn't make sense.

J W

If you've ever been disillusioned with life or disappointed with God, no doubt the emotion was born from a mismatch of expectation and reality.

You expected a long and prosperous life, not one shortened by cancer. You expected to be in your dream job forever, not to be laid off because of hard economic times. You anticipated your children growing up to follow the Lord, but they have turned away from the faith.

These unrealized futures send...

What Would You Give Up to Be Well?

 A preview of October's email-only article.

Aditya Romansa

Every month I publish an exclusive article for my email subscribers. (If you'd like to join the club, fill out the form below. It's free!)
In this month's subscriber email we're looking at how we can keep the faith when health deteriorates.
Here's how the article starts:

As a relatively young person, I've enjoyed years of good health. I rarely visit the doctor. I don't take any medications. I'm free from aches and pains.

This hasn't always bee...

Forgive Us Our Scorn

Why it takes humility to receive God's grace.

Ben White

As you read through the Bible you can't miss that God wants his creation to love one another. This axiom is simple, and it's woven into the DNA of the Scriptures such that we can't read more than a few pages without encountering the concept.
Whether this concept is overt as in the Ten Commandments—six of which deal explicitly with how humans should treat one another—and Jesus's own proclamation that the second greatest command is to love our n...

Consume This Proverb Responsibly

A preview of September's email-only article.

Justin Aikin

Every month I publish an exclusive article for my email subscribers. (If you'd like to join the club, fill out the form below. It's free!)
In this month's subscriber email we're looking at how to respond when faith becomes inconvenient.
Here's how the article starts:

I love passages like Proverbs 3. The verses are uplifting and optimistic. They offer a clear path for peace, health, and prosperity.

Yet read in isolation, these verses set the rea...

2 Disparate Manifestations of God's Love for Us

You can't have one without the other.

Juliane Liebermann

You've probably heard the adage, "God is love," culled both from experience of those with deep relationships with him and from popular Scripture passages such as, "God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" (1 John 4:16).
The saying is true.
God is the essence the love—a perfect, unconditional, and consuming love. Yet the effects of this quality manifest themselves in diverse ways. This is to be expected sinc...

The Antidote to Going through the Motions

    A preview of August's email-only article.

Sammy Williams

Every month I publish an exclusive article for my email subscribers. (If you'd like to join the club, fill out the form below. It's free!)
In this month's subscriber email we're looking at how to respond when faith becomes inconvenient.
Here's how the article starts:

I recently read David Allen's productivity manifesto, Getting Things Done. I'll write more about it in my annual reading roundup, but the entire philosophy of Allen's system co...