Barnabas Piper's Blog, page 52

3 Things I Like – January 18

Each week (give or take one or two here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.

1. Allbirds

[image error]I think I have a new favorite shoe brand. Yes, they’re popular. Yes, they’re green and eco-friendly. Yes, their ads pop up in your instagram feed all the time. And none of that matters to me at all. Allbirds are unbelievably comfortable, almost like slippers you can wear in public with dignity. They’re good for active people or business casual people. They breathe well enough you don’t even need to wear socks yet at the same time they are warm and relatively water repellent, unlike any other sporty shoes I’ve encountered. I have two pairs, and only massive, incredibly impressive self-control stops me from buying more.

2. Uncommontary

[image error]Sometimes a friend start podcasts and you wish them well and share it on social media and then never listen because it’s just not for you. Other times a friend starts a podcast and three episodes in it rises to the top of your “Why Don’t They Release Episodes More Often???” rankings. Uncommontary is in the latter category. Marty Duren, the host, and I worked together for about five years and became friends. I learned quickly to respect his curiosity and cultural insights to appreciate his dry understated wit, and to go to him for book recommendations. He brings all that to bear wonderfully in this podcast through conversations with guests Kevin Kruse, Qasim Rashid, and Karen Swallow-Prior (so far). He asks excellent questions and builds good rapport with his guests so their expertise and personalities shine. And they are experts. I soaked so much historical, cultural, religious, and literary knowledge in the first 3 episodes. For curious people eager to learn this podcast promises to be a goldmine.

3. Two Funerals, Then Easter by Rachel Joy Welcher

[image error]I occasionally get asked to endorse books, and it’s not hard to find things to praise about most of them. But it’s a rare thing when I get asked to endorse a book and instead of finding things to praise I have to remind myself an endorsement has to be kept short. Two Funerals, Then Easter was that kind of book. It’s a collection of poems that it stunning in its honesty, simplicity, depth, artistry, craft, and truthfulness – all of which are key ingredients to the poems I resonate with most. And resonate I did. I made the mistake of opening this book at my daughter’s swim meet. Opening it wasn’t a mistake—quite the opposite—but doing so when I wasn’t in a place to sit and think and feel and grieve and hope was. Rachel’s poems draw all that from me – mind and soul. They’re beautifully crafted and beautifully true and are portraits of feeling and place and people and God – the stuff of real, true life.

Happy Rant Sports Episode #24 – Trevor Lawrence, Robotic QBs, and NFL Coaching Changes

In this episode of the Happy Rant Sports Podcast Ted and Barnabas discuss the following:

The future of Trevor Lawrence both personally and professionally
Recapping the NCAA Championship game between Clemson and Alabama
Raising famous rich people as parents
Why are all of today’s QBs robotic and boring?
An overview of the coaching changes in the NFL
Sports book recommendation

Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:

Order fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters
Order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear (Use code RANT to get discounts on swag and/or shipping)

Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!

To listen you can:

Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
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Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.

Episode #24



New Happy Rant: College Student Q&A about Desert Islands, Plane Crashes, Rocky, and More

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ronnie, and Barnabas sit in on Ted’s podcasting class at Union University. The students come ready with questions about the following:

Surviving on a desert island
Surviving plane crashes
The best fights in the Rocky/Creed movies
Movie personas
Personal nemeses
Books we’d like to write or *wish* we could write
Passion vs. purpose as motivation in work

Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:

Order fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters
Order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear (Use code RANT to get discounts on swag and/or shipping)

Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!

To listen you can:

Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.

Episode #229

3 Things I Like – January 11

Each week (give or take one or two here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.

1. McKay’s Bookstore

[image error]Let’s not bury the lede. Two weeks ago I walked into McKay’s looking for nothing in particular and walked about an hour later with nine books having spent . . . wait for it . . . $13. In that hour I thumbed through novels, biographies, comic books, leadership books, and browsed stacks of movies. I meandered to the second level to peruse the racks of music, both CD and vinyl. And I regretted my forgetfulness for forgetting my box of unwanted books to trade in for store credit. That’s right, trade in – you don;t need to add the clutter when you buy books at McKays becuse you can bring old books and movies in to get money back for them. McKay’s is truly a book lover’s paradise.

2. Sherlock Holmes read by Stephen Fry

[image error]I grew up loving Holmes – the brilliance, the pomposity, the adventures. And I never really stopped. I will watch any version of Sherlock Holmes put into film, even the one featuring Will Ferrell and John C.Reilly (please don’t let that make you question my judgement). When I stumbled across this audiobook I was thrilled. It is the complete works and it is read by Stephen Fry who is absolutely perfect for such a task. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Holmes into life, and Fry’s brilliant reading adds all the color. Fry even adds introductory comments and some Holmes trivia to make an already enjoyable experience just a little bit more so. For users of Audible, this will cost you just one credit. (If you’re not an audible user you can sign up for a free trial and get 1 free audiobook and 2 free audible originals; one should be this one.)

3. Turning Guns Into Plowshares

[image error]This story about Anthony Campbell, the Newhaven, CT Chief of Police, is remarkable. He faced unfathomable loss coming out of college, pursued the priesthood, met a girl to marry instead, and became a police officer instead. His life and career path is notable, but how he does his work is even more so.

“The similarities between policing and ministry are just so profound,” Campbell explains. “People call you when they are in need. You are dealing with people when they’re at their most vulnerable, when their emotions are very raw and when they don’t have the answers. They seek you out to establish order and peace again in their lives.”

The details of how he goes about living this out are worth reading. Check it out.

New Happy Rant: J.D. Greear Broke Church, 2019 Predictions, and More

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas suss out the following pressing topics:

Our 2019 resolutions
Ted’s grudges
J.D. Greear’s cosmically, epically controversial decision to cancel services on New Year’s Sunday
Predictions for 2019 including the next big reformed star, the next big heretic, and more

Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:

Order fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters
Order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear (Use code RANT to get discounts on swag and/or shipping)

Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!

To listen you can:

Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.

Episode #228

3 Things I Like this Week – January 5

Each week (give or take one or two here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.

1. 3:10 to Yuma

[image error]I am a sucker for westerns and have been since I watched old John Wayne movies in black and white on VHS at my grandparents’ place when I was a kid. 3:10 to Yuma is almost criminally underrated in the genre, and just as a movie in general. I haven’t seen the original from 1957, but the 2007 version starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe (along with a deep and stellar supporting cast) is fantastic. The story is great, the writing is great, the action and adventure aspects are great, the characters are strong, there’s a spectacular shoot out, and it’s not even a problem that Russell Crowe does what he always does – he plays Russell Crowe. If you enjoy westerns or simply well-made, fast moving, intense movies you need to watch it.

2. Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning

[image error]It took me far too long to read Brennan Manning’s classic work on God’s profound love and grace, The Ragamuffin Gospel. I’d known of the book for years, but it took dozens of recommendations before I finally got around to it. I am grateful I encountered this beautiful book when I did because it’s rare for me to read a book that makes me love Jesus and feel loved by Jesus more. This one did, page after page, relentlessly. It is magnificent in its simplicity and depth and honesty and gratefulness and worship. If you have not, please read it. .

3. Charles Barkley Highlights

We know him as the out sized (literally and figuratively) personality bloviating on TNT’s NBA broadcasts, but we’re remiss if we forget that The Round Mound of Rebound was insane as a player. There has never been another player quite like him. Key point to remember: he was 6’5.”

He Reads Truth: Minor Prophets – Attack Against Nineveh

I have the privilege of contributing to He Reads Truth, a website of whose purpose is “To help men become who we were made to be, by doing what we were made to do, by the power and provision that God has given us to do it, for the glory of Jesus Christ.” They do this by providing scripture reading plans accompanied by reflections that can be accessed for free online or purchased as print books. For those of you looking to engage scripture in a fresh way – either because you are dried up or have been away from it, these studies/plans will refresh your soul and engage your mind.

What follows is one of the pieces I wrote for the plan on Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Haggai. You can find the full plan HERE.

Nahum 2:1-13, Nahum 3:1-19, 2 Chronicles 32:9-23

Taunting God is a bad idea. No, taunting an MMA fighter is a bad idea; taunting God is blasphemous and deadly. In our modern age, we have so distanced ourselves from the reality of God and turned Him into a spiritual figment that the idea of bothering to taunt Him seems absurd. Our mockery of God comes as we passively ignore His lordship of the universe. In the Old Testament, taunting God looked entirely different.

Second Chronicles 32:9-22 describes the invasion of Judah by the Assyrians, who were led by Sennacherib. They surrounded Jerusalem, the holy city of Israel and the home of God’s temple. They began to taunt, but they did not merely taunt the people or King Hezekiah—they hurled insults at God. “No god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my power or the power of my father. How much less will your God rescue you from my power!” (2 Chronicles 32:15). And they escalated their mockery from there.

Sennacherib thought he could rattle the faith of Judah by undermining their confidence in God. He thought he could bring God’s people to their knees. Well, he was right. Hezekiah, king of Judah, did indeed fall to his knees. He prayed for deliverance, and God acted. That day, an angel of the Lord killed every Assyrian warrior and sent the shamed Sennacherib home to his own demise. Jerusalem was rescued.

The prophecies of Nahum, given a few years after Sennacherib’s attack on Jerusalem, speak directly to the pride of the Assyrians, specifically Nineveh. And if the people of Nineveh had any doubt about whether the God who defeated Sennacherib’s army would again act to bring this defiant city to justice, the Lord makes it perfectly clear: “I am against you. This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies” (Nahum 2:13). Nahum 2 tells of the armies of God rising up fierce and strong with blood-red shields and chariots of fire to devastate Nineveh. Chapter 3 tells of the shaming of the city for its pride, prostitution, and sorcery—all acts of defiance against God. It ends by saying the city’s people would be scattered into exile, a just retribution in line with how they had treated nations they’d once conquered.

These are hard verses and harsh prophecies. Our instinct might be to ignore them or explain them away, but we cannot. In these verses we see the reality of a God who will not be mocked or rejected or reviled. He is not petty or spiteful; He is perfect and glorious, making such acts infinitely condemnable. We also see a God who rescues His people, who achieves justice and doesn’t let evil stand. In God’s infinite power, holiness, justice, and kindness we find comfort.

New Happy Rant: Amazing Christmas Cards, New Years Goal Setting, and More

In this episode of The Happy Rant podcast Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas suss out the following:

Listener submitted theologian names according to the game Ted created in the previous episode (name of the first street you lived on + last name of the author of the theology book nearest you + your last name)
Ronnie’s incredible Christmas poster, er, card
Other incredible Christmas cards
Do we make goals for the new year? If not, why not? If so, how?

Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:

Order fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters
Order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear (Use code RANT to get discounts on swag and/or shipping)

Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!

To listen you can:

Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.

Episode #227

6 Apps to Help You Set 2019 Goals

It’s that time of year when we compile an outlandish list of ways we will disappoint ourselves over the next few months and call them “New Year’s Resolutions.” There’s a  better way to do this, though: setting goals. A goal is something you can measure and something you can take practical steps to achieve. It can be aggressive or imminently attainable, but either way it you must be able to measure progress and map out some reasonable steps to get there. Here are six apps I have found that help me achieve goals in different areas for which I used to set (and fail at) New Year’s Resolutions.

Saving Money – Digit

[image error]I found digit a couple years ago and have found it super helpful. It is automated savings based on the status of whatever bank account you tie it to. So it will save bit by bit of your account can afford it and slow down or stop if you cannot.  You can tell it to save more or less aggressively, and you can manually deposit money as well. If you are like me and aren’t the most disciplined saver this app is super helpful for emergency savings or saving for a specific expense.

(Oh, and for signing up through the link in this post they’ll give you and me both $5.)

Eating Healthier – MyFitnessPal

[image error]I’m in my mid 30s and I love to eat. That means that about 5 years ago I realized that my desk-sitting, restaurant-eating, coke-drinking lifestyle was really sticking with me. Mostly as love handles. In talking to my over-40 friends it seems this condition, known as “getting pudgy,” doesn’t resolve itself. So I had to figure out how to fix it. MyFitnessPal is an app (and website) that allows users to track all the food they eat, set goals for caloric intake, and track calories burned. It syncs with other fitness apps (Apple, fitbit, etc.) so that you can see the net intake of calories as well. Mostly it is a source of eating accountability as you see shocking numbers attached to donuts and cookies and coke and whatnot. At the very least it has been helpful in keeping my own bad habits in check.

Reading – Goodreads

[image error]Goodreads is like a playground for book lovers. It allows you to set goals, track your progress, interact with other readers, make wish lists, discover new titles or authors, leave ratings and reviews, see how other review books, and it even connects directly with Kindle if you’re into that sort of thing. If you want to read more books, read more from a certain author, read more of a specific genre, or some other goal Goodreads is the ideal app to help with that. It is both fun and useful and an ideal environment for those who want to be better readers.

Investing Money – Acorns

[image error]I am not an investor. I have a loose idea of what the stock market is and no idea how it works (except that you should never panic and always leave your money invested . . . right?). So when I ran across Acorns it seemed like the perfect place to get started for a novice like me. It takes whatever amount you want to invest, either a little bit at a time or big chunks, either one time deposits or recurring, and puts it into an investment portfolio on your behalf. You can give direction what kind of portfolio (small business, growth stocks, etc.) and you can customize it to your preferences as well. The kicker for someone like me is that Acorns will automatically accrue and invest your “spare change” by rounding up any amount you spend on approved debit or credit cards to the nearest dollar and investing those little bits. So that means, just by rounding up and putting a few dollars a week into my account I can easily invest $50-$100 monthly. It’s not an enormous amount, but it ads up and it’s $50-$100 more per month than I was investing before.

(Oh, and for signing up through the link in this post they’ll give you and me both $5.)

Fitness & Excercise – PushUps and Running Log

[image error] [image error]There are innumerable useful fitness and exercise apps. The key to finding the right one for you has little to do with the app and more to do with your persistence and consistency in using it. These are two that I use to track my progress in exercise goals month by month. These are simple apps that are basically for recording progress, almost like an exercise journal. There are others that offer plans, goals, maps, routes, and GPS tracking. Those are great too if you are looking for a more full service app. Again, the key to fitness apps is using them consistently.

 

 

 

Happy Rant Sports Episode #23 – Annoying Fans, Baseball Trades, and Football Trades

In this episode of The Happy Rant Sports podcast Ted and Barnabas discuss the following:

How is Ted responding to the Mariner’s first busy offseason since adopting them as his team?
Which fan base is most annoying?
Did the Raiders actually win their weird trades earlier this season?
A book recommendation

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Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:

Order fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters
Order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear (Use code RANT to get discounts on swag and/or shipping)

Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!

To listen you can:

Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.

Episode #23