This Week's Recommendations

  1. How much money do I need for retirement? A helpful article from Life Institute no matter how old you are.

  2. Sin causes anxiety, tooCasey McCall with a helpful article reflecting on connection (sometimes) between sin and anxiety, “Christians today would do well to consider sin as a possible cause of mental illness even as we follow Murray’s advice to avoid pinning all mental illness on sin.”

  3. Anything can be an idolGlenna Marshall is spot on, “I have worshiped an hour of uninterrupted sleep. I have worshiped a number on the scale.  I have worshiped a number in my bank account. I have worshiped a pregnancy test, a tidy to-do list, a stocked pantry, a nicer vehicle, a certain number of social media followers, my reputation, positive book reviews, the way I look or didn’t look, perfect obedience from my kids, a certain home aesthetic. And on and on the list goes. I have a heart that loves to produce idols, and unfortunately, so do you.”

  4. Advice on resisting temptationI agree with Casey McCall, “First, recognize that all temptation attacks you at the level of identity. Satan wants to cause confusion about who you really are. You can see this clearly both in the garden with Adam and Eve and in the wilderness with Jesus.”

  5. 50 years of travel tipsGreat advice here, such as, “Crash a wedding. You are not a nuisance; you are the celebrity guest! The easiest way to do this is to find the local wedding hall where weddings happen on schedule and approach a wedding party with a request to attend. They will usually feel honored. You can offer the newlyweds a small token gift of cash if you want. You will be obliged to dance. Take photos of them; they will take photos of you. It will make your day and theirs. (I’ve crashed a wedding in most of the countries I have visited.) “ And, “Don’t balk at the spendy price of admission for a museum or performance. It will be a tiny fraction of your trip’s total cost and you invested too much and have come too far to let those relative minor fees stop you from seeing what you came to see.”

Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash