reads for your weekend

• And Then the Conference Uninvited Me to Speak by Jen Hatmaker

"I’m hungry for a church less known for sanctimony and more for their shocking intervention for hungry babies and human trafficking and racism and injustice. Christianity is too thrilling to reduce to middle/upper-middle class First World Problems, encapsulated in issues and gauged by a nebulous moral compass that lost its bearing decades ago.

• Failure to Thrive by Brandon Hatmaker 

"Every child deserves a family. If it can’t be through unification with biological parents, then it needs to be through a more rapid process for adoption. This stands in opposition to a long drawn out process taking an average of three or more years while the child remains institutionalized during their most significant developmental years."

• What I Want You to Know About Wanting a Baby by Rachel

"So, I want you to know that I’m not jealous. When I hold your baby, I don’t wish she was mine. When I hear that you’re expecting, I don’t envy you. When I see an ultrasound picture of your little life form, I don’t wish that image was nestled in my own uterus."

•  Confronting the Life: God won't give you more than you can handle by Nate Pyle

"It is easy to spout trite Christian platitudes designed to make people feel better with bumper-sticker theology. But insipid axioms do little in the face of the actual brokenness of the world."

"This particular statement, that 'God won’t give you more than you can handle,' isn't even in the Bible. There is a statement that sounds like it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” But notice that verse is about temptation. That’s it. You won’t be tempted beyond what you can stand up against. This text is not saying that you will not experience more than you can bear. That idea just isn't Biblical." 

• The Lord of the Rings vs. Foster Care & Adoption by Steve Rose

"...Treebeard answers, 'This is not our war.' Merry’s response is simple, and powerful – 'But you’re part of this world!'...We ARE part of this world, and as such are seen by God as part of the solution to things like foster care/adoption." 

• On Preparing for the Sabbath by Jennifer at Her Southern Charm

"I should have blocked off thirty minutes to an hour Saturday night and gotten those chores done. I should have done whatever I needed to do to pave the way for a morning of reconnecting with Him after a busy week and weekend."

• Ashamed by Rachel Held Evans 

"I am not ashamed of this great cloud of witnesses, kicking up dust ahead of me on the path. They are hermits and homemakers and sinners and saints and pilgrims and poets and mothers and activists and peacemakers and friends. They bind up wounds and stand up to bullies and offer rides and listen well and make meals and let things go and work hard and fail sometimes. But they keep telling the story--this story that sets both the oppressed and the oppressors free, this story that may even save me."