Link Love

There were three posts up on Challies recently that all made worthy points for different seasons. For young men: What Will Be the Cost to the Church. For men and women: She Strengthens Me. And for couples: When God Says to Get Drunk. I highly recommend reading each of these, don't just pick one. I am loathe to call myself Reformed or Calvinist and that is primarily because there are such polarizing views floating around the blogosphere. I know what I believe, and why, and it has a lot less to do with five points or predestination, and simply because God revealed Himself to me here and sustains me here. Nate Pyle gives five reasons why he's reformed.

One of the disadvantages of being covenanted at a well-known church is I often have to fight the need to defend The Village to others—not because others think it is dysfunctional, but because from their vantage point, it is perfect. I find myself defending our messiness. From my vantage point I see the brokenness, the people falling through the cracks, the less than perfect systems, etc. I appreciate this post from Sam Rainer, Messy is Healthy.

Being in a relationship with someone challenges my personal assumption of health in a way I haven't experienced in a long time. All my quirks and unhealthy fears are brought to the surface in this season in a way they just haven't been before—at least not with a guy. Doug Wilson gives 10 challenges to assumptions young men make, and I think some of these are just as apropos for young women.

I'm strangely grateful that cell-phone ownership didn't become common until I was 20, and that I didn't own my own until I was 24. I understand that a lot has changed in the past ten years, but there is much about this article that is wisdom for all ages. Teens and Unrestricted Access.

Kevin DeYoung wrote of five commitments to those struggling with same sex-attraction. I so appreciated this piece, especially in the recent weeks where there have been many treatises on where we stand biblically, albeit dogmatically. This piece wafts of compassion and truth.

My friend Jen Wilkin drops another winner with this one, The Mother of All Swear Words. I will never forget coming home from school in Kindergarten asking my mom what a certain four-letter word meant and the way she navigated that discussion. Even though it wasn't until years later that I knew what the word really meant, the impression she gave me in that first discussion opened the way for safe discussions later.

This is just cool (click through for more images).