Recommended Links

A few quick recommendations to check out at your leisure...

• I'm catching up on various ministry podcasts, trying to listen in the car and as I get ready for work in the morning. This week I listened to an excellent two-part radio broadcast by Dr. Charles Stanley on Defeating Discouragement. Part B was especially encouraging for me. This is definitely one I'll archive and listen to again. (To access it, click here, then select 2006 and December in the pull-down menus and scroll down to find the program on Defeating Discouragement--it aired December 26 and 27, 2006.)

• My friend (and fellow blogger) Aleah has launched her new photography website. As you can see from the site, she is incredibly talented and is using her God-given talents to show off His beautiful world and the people in it! If you need a photographer, keep her in mind!

• Another friend and fellow blogger, Jon Owen, has posted a great article on the importance of being there for people in their time of grief. Just this week alone, I've been confronted with the opportunity to minister to grieving people--first, with the death of a friend's father, and today with the death of a co-worker's mother. Both people had been ill for a while, so their deaths were expected, but it's still incredibly painful for the families left behind. Although we often struggle with wanting to say the "right thing" to people who are hurting, sometimes the best thing to do is give them a hug and let them know you're sorry and are praying for them. That really applies to anyone who's hurting, whether grieving a death or some other loss or disappointment.