Tag: #FridayFeed

Shareable, skimmable, skippable.

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I’ve been trying to catch up on my RSS feed’s “Read Later” tab. (After a few weeks of effort, I started the day at around 270 bookmarks.) I farm my RSS feed for links to share in my #FridayFeed posts (which seem to be most of my posts these days–I’m working on that!).  But I noticed as I mechanically cycled links this afternoon that I was merely skimming to see if the post was worth sharing, instead of reading to see if it was beneficial to me. I wasn’t reading; I was just curating.

Reversing the roles, I’d probably be disappointed if readers were only skimming my posts to weigh if they were “good enough” to share or retweet.

I have to admit, the pressure to put *something* up on the blog makes it easy to slip into that role of curator instead of creator. 

So I decided to chop my voluminous “Read Later” list down to things that I [gasp!] actually wanted to read later, even if doing so cut against my info-hoarder tendencies. The list is now below 150. Even if a link touched a topic I might want to read at some point, if I didn’t want to read it now, I deleted the bookmark.

Here’s my point: As much as you are able, only read what you actually want to read. There are no prizes for reading the most blog posts or news feeds, beyond the prize of what you actually retain. So read what you like, read what feeds your brain and heart and soul, and skip the rest. (And hopefully, I’ll create some of that good stuff for you along the way.)

Side-note: It’s also fascinating how little the BIG NEWS COMMENTARY of 6 months ago matters now. It’s almost as if, I don’t know, the 24-hour news cycle produces a lot of sound and fury that signifies nothing in about a week. Hmm.

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Friday Feed: 07/26/2019

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Happy Friday! I’m back today with some interesting and (hopefully) beneficial links for your weekend review (including some links pulled from my Feedly app’s “Read Later” list that I’m reading *much* later).

Let’s get to it!

  • Maybe you’re someone who wants to read more but just can’t seem to find the time or the will to make it happen. Jordan Taylor can relate. He can also show you how to address that.
  • I had never before heard this story of the price that Pastor (and author) Randy Alcorn paid for his convictions about the life issue. What a profound example of humble, daily faithfulness.
  • As you may know, we welcomed our second daughter recently. This post by Matthew Tuck is a great encouragement about how important simply reading the Bible to your kids can be.
  • Along those same lines: If you have wanted to begin a practice of family worship in your home, this piece from Things Above Us is instructive and practical. Check it out.
  • From last year, here’s a Crossway blog post about 5 tips for Bible memorization. I don’t pursue this discipline as I ought. These reminders/encouragements are worth a look.
  • Christian, rethink your public speech. Amen.
  • If you’ve never heard the story of Charles Spurgeon and the “Downgrade Controversy,” this is a nice summary. It’s a story worth digging into.
  • I am looking for a way to get organized, mentally as much as schedule-wise. I may give bullet-journalling a try this weekend. 
  • Finally, this post about the ignoble tasks of pastoral ministry was a challenge to the creeping selfishness in my heart, and a reminder that I should be grateful for the elders I serve with and the ones who have cared for me over the years.
  • Update: Actually, one more link–this post from Tim Challies about being your own content curator. As I noted above, I use Feedly, at Tim’s recommendation, and I think it’s a great resource. If you use an RSS feed now, or if you are considering using one, could I perhaps encourage you to add this blog to it? That is one of the best ways to know when I’ve posted new content, as I’m obviously still trying to figure out a consistent posting schedule. (Another great way is to sign up for updates on the sidebar to the right (or below, depending on your device). Thank you!

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I hope this was a help to you. If any of these topics interest you, be sure to click through, and maybe drop me a comment below to let me know which of these interested you. Thanks!

#FridayFeed: 06/28/2019

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Happy Friday, friends! Here’s another bushel-basket of links and videos I found interesting this week. Hope you find a few fun items for your weekend amusement and edification!

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  • Seth Godin is a mastermind of business, marketing, and thinking outside the box. His bite-sized blog posts are short and insightful–like Zen koans about sales and professional relationships. Even if you’re not a sales or business person, each of his posts are worth a read, including this recent post about memorization vs. story-telling.
  • Okay, one more Godin post to check out that I really liked: “investing in slack” (as in margin, not the app-based business product).
  • This story from The Verge is very hard to read, but I’m glad it’s being told: 3 Facebook content reviewers break their NDA’s to talk about the horrible working conditions at Facebook’s content-review subcontractors and the painful emotional and psychological toll of reviewing vile and disturbing social media content 8 hours a day.
  • My friend Marian has some challenging words about how Southern Baptists can unintentionally signal their view of women’s contributions to church life through the questions they ask and the questions they don’t ask.
  • Kevin DeYoung provides some Proverbial insights on social media usage, courtesy of Solomon himself.
  • I dig artistic and unique music videos. This latest offering from my buddy Trevor’s band Fight the Fade is visually and lyrically intriguing. I love the industrial sound that FTF has found with this recent single. Check ’em out.
  • Some of you will really hate this article by David French, in which he argues that (some) evangelicals who supported the President’s election (and re-election) seem to be doing so out of fear instead of faith. While I don’t think he can make a blanket argument about all evangelicals, it could be applied to a not-insignificant slice of the president’s base.
  • I had a blog post idea on the back burner for the last month or so to look at 4 pictures of “toxic masculinity” in II Samuel 13-14 (the rape of Tamar  and the subsequent murder of Amnon). But then Michelle Lesley went and pretty much covered what I was looking to say. So maybe just check out her excellent post about “bad-dad David.”
  • A friend recently challenged me on Twitter by arguing that those who seek to be  complementarian in a Biblically-faithful way need to overcome the stereotypes and bad examples by presenting a clearer, nobler vision of this approach to gender roles. I agree heartily. This post from Hohn Cho over at Pyromaniacs is a great step in presenting that clearer vision.
  • With the upcoming birth of Daughter #2, this new Kirby Krackle tune about a super-heroic father saying goodbye to his daughter hit me squarely in the feels.

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Programming note: We have some big events coming up in our household this coming week (including the birth of the previously-mentioned daughter!). I’m going to try to schedule some posts this weekend to run over the next week or two, but if I can’t get that done, just know I’ll be back sometime after the July 4th holiday. Thanks for understanding.

Have a great weekend!

Friday Feed (6/21/2019)

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Happy weekend-eve, y’all! Here are some interesting links I’ve found over the last few weeks. Hope you enjoy!

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That’s all I’ve got for today. See you next week! 

 

If you’ve come across any interesting links lately, post them below!

Friday Feed: 05/17/2019

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Happy Friday, gang!

On weeks when I don’t have a themed #FridayFive, I’m going to start curating a list of interesting links or recommendations (in the spirit of the old “Cool Ten” series on one of my past blogs). Here we go!

  • Eric Davis over at The CrippleGate posted on “a new kind of Pharisee.” Todd Friel of Wretched Radio highlighted the post this week (which is how I became aware of it), and I think it’s something worth mulling over.
  • I shared this on Twitter earlier this week, but: if you subscribe to the idea of a “head-canon” (having a mental version of events in a popular series or film that fills in the gaps or corrects inconsistencies in the actual “texts” of the story), you’ll understand what I mean when I say that this fan-made version of the Vader/Obi-wan duel from “A New Hope” is now firmly placed in my Star Wars head-canon.
  • Brian Renshaw has some useful personal rules for social media and controlling the outrage machine. Worth considering.
  • I really enjoyed Luis Mendez’s thoughtful retrospective on the 50-year history of the “King of All Monsters.” Even if you’re not a Godzilla fan, this is a cool overview of how a movie franchise is shaped by geopolitical and cultural changes.
  • Speaking of Godzilla, here’s a rockin track from the upcoming Gozilla: King of the Monsters soundtrack, featuring Serj Tankian from System of A Down.
  • I saw two really great movies last weekend: The Highwaymen, a Netflix original about the retired Texas Rangers who killed Bonnie and Clyde; and Stan and Ollie, a pitch-perfect biopic about the twilight years of Laurel and Hardy’s career together. Both films feature compelling acting performances by real pros. Don’t miss either one.
  • I feel like there’s a political correctness / “NPC” joke somewhere in this article about Microsoft Word’s upcoming inclusivity software, but it would just be petty to make it. Right? Let me know, Uncle Bill.
  • Finally, if you haven’t already used your 3 free premium articles from Medium this month, Mike Vardy’s 43 bullet-points on personal productivity are worth every second. (You may even want to copy some of them down into a file or program that won’t try to charge you $5 a month to access it later.)

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If you enjoyed any of the links above, please let me know in the comments, and feel free to share your own cool finds as well! See you Monday!