We had a crane fly hatch of monster proportions this fall. I think it is finally waning.

Whether in terms of church leadership or scouting leadership, any strategy for the future which does not explicitly prioritize growth has accepted decline. And growth comes from starting new groups, not merely promoting existing ones.
— Read on aefenglommung.livejournal.com/1652693.html

Alright, who is going to order a new electric Hummer? You know you want one.

Most of the places experiencing the most profound spiritual revival today are also circles among the poor and the marginalized. As John Wesley noted, God’s Spirit produces diligence and thrift, which leads to wealth, but in time this upward mobility can produce generations dependent on prior generations’ blessings. If God has blessed some of us with upward mobility that our forebears in revival lacked, we must use it wisely (1 Tim 6:17-19); we dare not risk losing the special connection with the poor and broken. We may serve and empower them, but we are also blessed by them; they have something that we too need.
— Read on craigkeener.com/a-humbling-message-for-the-elite-regarding-spiritual-revival/

Yes, God does hear our prayers. He sometimes answers prayer in Scripture with spectacular miracles. But here he answers with quiet, ordinary providence—daily living in humble, trusting obedience. Ruth received the blessings of Naomi’s prayer. But what neither Ruth nor Naomi (nor Boaz) ever realized in their lifetimes is that the blessings of Naomi’s prayer (Obed, Jesse, David, and generations on to Jesus) would continue into the twenty-first century and into eternity.

Blanchard, Tom. “God May Providentially Answer Our Prayers … Way beyond Our Imagination!: Ruth 1:8–9.” In Hebrew for Life: Strategies for Learning, Retaining, and Reviving Biblical Hebrew, 44–45. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2020.

So are fundamentalist Christians really Christians, authentically Christian? I would say most of them are because they accept Jesus Christ as God and Savior, have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and embrace all the key doctrines of historical, classical Christian orthodoxy. But many of them are deluded Christians and many of them are mean Christians—especially toward other conservative Christians with whom they disagree about matters like women in ministry, speaking in tongues, the “end times,” biblical inerrancy, etc.
— Read on www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2020/10/how-i-tried-on-fundamentalist-christianity-and-found-it-didnt-fit/

The details are quite different, but I have been on the same journey. At this stage in my life, I just feel sorry for fundamentalists and have no hope of seeing any movement in them.

Partial obedience is really only disobedience made to look acceptable.

Arnold, Bill T. 1 & 2 Samuel. The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003, p 220.

Although everyone knows that the Bible was written in a different time and culture, and most people take that fact into account when they read particular passages, not everyone is consistent in using cultural background. Of course, not all passages in the Bible require much background; our culture still has some features in common with the culture of the Bible. But if we do not know anything about the original culture, we may sometimes assume that we do not need any background for a passage when in fact it would dramatically affect the way we read the text.Even though most people recognize the need to pay attention to cultural background, some people become nervous at the suggestion that they need it.
— Read on craigkeener.com/context-precedes-application/