Hello stewards,
Summer is over and school has begun again. How ya doing with that?
For me, big changes in routine can be a blessing or a curse. Either it messes up my rhythms of productivity or it gives me a chance to reset and get back on track. Which has this season been for you?
Everyone in my family has had colds this week, which has slowed me down quite a bit. But I was again reminded of one of the many blessings of working from home, I can much more easily lend a hand during the day when the kids are sick.
In fact, it got me thinking about the whole work-from-home arrangement in general. Remote work has been normalized in the last year and a half, but it’s still new enough for many people that it presents some unique challenges. So I wrote a two-part series on integrity and remote work. As one reader summarized the first article, “remote work doesn’t make you lazy, it just shows what’s already in your heart.”
- Part 1 – When No One Is Watching: The Heart of a Christian Remote Worker (5 mins)
- Part 2 – How to Bless Your Employer While Working Remotely (5 mins)
And on this week’s episode Redeeming Productivity we talked about Growth, Goals & Greek with Darryl Burling (49 mins).
Have a listen if you haven’t yet. I think you’re really going to like this one. Darryl’s energy and passion for the Word of God are infectious.
Darryl has a Ph.D. in biblical counseling and is the creator of Master New Testament Greek, an online program designed to help anyone learn to read the New Testament in the original Greek. In this episode, we talk about setting spiritual growth goals and the importance of learning the original biblical languages.
I hope you enjoy the rest of this edition of the Roundup! ????
????????The Roundup
I ‘Just’ Do Ordinary Work (3 mins)
“Over the years, I’ve interviewed hundreds of people about their work. I generally begin with a simple question: ‘Do you enjoy your job? Why or why not?’ I’ve been amazed at the number of people who began with two words: ‘I just.'”
(Dan Doriani / The Gospel Coalition)
How To Type Faster: 8 Actionable Tips To Increase Your Typing Speed (9 mins)
“People often ask me how I manage to do a lot of things seemingly at the same time – work as a doctor, run a YouTube channel, write on my website – and apart from standard productivity advice that I share, learning how to type faster is one of the reasons I’ve been able to do that.”
(Ali Abdaal)
Bring Back Foxe’s (2 mins)
This is good stuff. My friend Darryl Dash has a great piece on how reading Foxe’s Book of Christian Martyrs can reset our expectations of suffering in the Christian life.
“It’s said that we live in unprecedented times. The opposite may be true. Almost everything that happens today has happened before. The details change, but the basic plot structure remains intact. The more we read stories from the past — including stories of martyrdom — the better we’ll be prepared to meet the challenges of today.”
P.s. I recently had Darryl on the podcast to discuss his recent book on spiritual growth and habits. Listen here.
(Darryl Dash / DashHouse)
Amazon’s new Kindle Paperwhite has a larger screen, color-temperature controls, and USB-C
I do about half my reading on a generation 1 Kindle Paperwhite. It’s been very good to me. But it has a very small crack in the screen. And that might be just the excuse I need to shell out for this new version with its bigger screen (6.8″) and adjustable color temperature for the backlight.
The new Kindle Paperwhite is available for pre-order and will set you back $139 for the ad-supported version.
Note Taking in Worship (2 mins)
Some excellent thoughts on note-taking during sermons.
“First of all, taking notes is not transcribing word-for-word. Since I am a transcriptionist by trade, I toyed with the idea of using a laptop for sermon notes since I can type much faster than I can write. But it is possible to lose focus in transcription mode because the goal isn’t listening for the actual meaning but to type as many words as possible.”
P.s. here’s a video I made showing how I take sermon notes.
(Persis Lorenti / Reformation21)
3 Ways to Use Online Videos to Evangelize (5 mins)
“With the right motives and message, the good news is that there are ways that anyone can share the gospel through online video, no matter your social media skill level.”
(Greg Sukert / For the Gospel)
????Something I Like
My dear friend Costi Hinn has written a new book, More Than a Healer.
Costi has witnessed firsthand the tragedy of what happens when people desire to heal more than the Healer Himself. In More Than a Healer, he opens up about his own experiences of suffering, including his son’s cancer diagnosis, and helps answer common questions believers have about God’s healing power and how it relates to His sovereignty.
This is a powerful book for anyone struggling to understand how a God who loves us and is able to heal sometimes chooses not to. Costi’s gentleness and genuine care for people struggling with those questions come through on every page.
More Than a Healer comes out next week and is available for pre-order.
✍️Quote of the Week
“Disappointment is the gap that exists between expectation and reality.”
– John C. Maxwell
Follow @redeemingprod on Instagram for more.
⌛️That’s All for this Week
Thanks for reading!
If you’re enjoying the newsletter, share it with a friend. And as always, you can just hit reply to send me a message.
If you’re wanting to be a more productive steward of your life for God’s glory but don’t know where to start, check out POWER Mornings, my course on morning routines for productive Christians.
See you next week!
– Reagan