Welcome to my weekly digest for October 7, 2022. For new subscribers, this contains a roundup of my recent writings and podcasts, as well as links to the best articles from around the web this week. You can control what emails you get from me by
In my small group we are reading Michael Frost's "Surprise the World: The Five Habits of Highly Missional People." The first habit is blessing others, particularly through acts of service, gifts, and words of affirmation (and doing this for 3 people each week, at least one inside the church and at least one nonbeliever). Although words of affirmation seems to be the "cheapest" in terms of effort and expense, it plays a huge role for some people.
I think about this in relation to JP's compassion for young men whom it's totally socially acceptable to degrade. I was struck by Peterson's comment that "It’s really something to see — constantly how many people are dying for lack of an encouraging word and how easy it is to provide that if you’re careful.” And then there's the video of this vet. It's heartbreaking to see a man so broken and so desperate for some human connection.
In my small group we are reading Michael Frost's "Surprise the World: The Five Habits of Highly Missional People." The first habit is blessing others, particularly through acts of service, gifts, and words of affirmation (and doing this for 3 people each week, at least one inside the church and at least one nonbeliever). Although words of affirmation seems to be the "cheapest" in terms of effort and expense, it plays a huge role for some people.
I think about this in relation to JP's compassion for young men whom it's totally socially acceptable to degrade. I was struck by Peterson's comment that "It’s really something to see — constantly how many people are dying for lack of an encouraging word and how easy it is to provide that if you’re careful.” And then there's the video of this vet. It's heartbreaking to see a man so broken and so desperate for some human connection.