Stuff I've Been Reading

Soak it up today, ladies and gentlemen, because this is your last "Stuff I've Been Reading" for a month! I may post an open question on Sundays for you to list anything that you've read of interest, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Regardless, I won't be hunting down good links for your reading enjoyment through August. However, if you follow me on Twitter, I'm sure I'll retweet stuff during the month that catches my eye. Anyway, onward we go!

• Elizabeth Esther is one of the World Vision bloggers in Bolivia this week. She wrote a lovely piece about her puking daughter, just a few days before heading out (she has five kids, so she's leaving a bunch behind for this week!). This is a great reminder to all of us to live in the moment.
• My brother in law Justin wrote a response to my piece about the Christ-centered marriage. He offers a more thorough look at it, and I appreciate his thoughts on the matter, both as a close relative (he's my sister's husband AND my husband's brother - we do live in WV, after all!) and as a pastor.
• Jen Luitwieler examines the difference between "I need a break" and "I can't" in this post. One of the things that running is teaching me is to examine the "I can't" mentality a lot more. This post was really helpful in examining that.
• Ed Cyzewski asks what if Jesus isn't as reasonable as we are. Some tough questions there - lots of food for thought!
• Mason Slater wrote an essay over at A Deeper Story asking us to extend grace to people that aren't the at the same place as us. I always (!) need to hear this kind of message.
• Yesterday the group of bloggers set off on their trip to Bolivia with World Vision. You can follow their posts here. If you pray, I'd ask you to pray for their safety and for their ability to share the stories of what they see with honesty and dignity. These are some of my favorite writers (and I consider several of them friends, even if we've not met IRL yet), so this project is close to my heart. If you're interested in sponsoring a child in Bolivia, you can go here to see how to do that.

On a personal note, I just want to pre-thank all of the folks who have written posts for the upcoming month. You'll see a few familiar faces and a few new folks. I'm so grateful to everyone for their generosity in writing quality posts so I can take this month off. If you're a regular reader here, you'll want to tune in. I'll see you all in a month!

What did you read/write/watch/listen to this week that moved you? Please leave a link in the comments so we can enjoy what you've enjoyed!