News From the Frontlines: August 8th, 2026
- Joshua Budimlic
- 24 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Once again, welcome to News From the Frontlines—where, drawing work from across the spiritual battlefield, faithful brothers and sisters in Christ are busy about drawing the Sword of the Spirit in warfare against all manner of darkness, sin, evil, and decay. In this week’s edition, you’ll find some thoughts by Randy Alcorn on work and stewardship, a sobering article on why many young couples are afraid of having children, and, my personal favorite, a delightful article written by my dear wife—and more. Enjoy, my friends.
News From the Frontlines:
Recommended Reading, Listening, & Watching
Many of you may know that my wife is a Biblical counsellor, but did you know she also writes? This piece is a particular favorite of mine. “I had heard other couples say that their wedding day was such a blur, it went by so fast, they don’t remember the little details, or what the food tasted like, or what people said to them. Hearing those comments made me know I did not want that for our wedding day. Would not let that happen. And I can honestly say that our wedding day really was a timeful moment, a timeless moment, a moment made eternity.”
As always, Randy Alcorn is brimming with encouragement. “If you are working a ‘secular’ job, you are not second class in God’s Kingdom. You are no less called or gifted than a pastor or a missionary. Your ministry is to represent Jesus in your own sphere of influence and to provide financial support that enables others to do the work God equips them to do.”
“Ask yourself, what are you fearful of? Is it that you cannot afford a child? Is it that you can’t see bringing a child into such a broken world? Is it that you had a poor upbringing and are afraid that you will mess up your child? Or have you bought the lie about overpopulation? Is it more selfish? You don’t want to give up your double income life for the financial sacrifice of a child? Or you don’t want to give up your career? The clearer you can be on what you are fearing the more you can bring this before the Lord and replace those fears with the truths of God’s word.”
Tim Challies reflects on the following question: “Do you ever wonder what it’s like to enter heaven? Do you ever wonder what you will see first, what you will hear first, what you will feel and experience first? Do you ever wonder what your very first thought will be after you’ve fallen asleep in this world to awaken in the next? I’m sure you do. We all do. We all wonder what’s just beyond the great chasm that separates life from death, earth from heaven, here from there.”
This was a wonderful sermon, and the first in a series on Psalm 51. In it, Jonny rightfully emphasizes the meaning and importance of true repentance.
“I didn’t let my kids tell me they didn’t like certain foods. I had two reasons. First, I didn’t want them to tie what they ought to do too tightly to their preferences. What we like or dislike does not determine what we should do. In fact, often we are called to do the very things we don’t want to do, and we must find a way to do those things joyfully whether we prefer them or not. Making them try foods they didn’t like was good training ground for a dynamic they were going to face for the rest of their lives.”
Over at Ligonier, Burk Parsons writes how “many Christians have a view of church history that is a popular, but unfortunate, caricature. They believe the church started in the first century, but then soon fell into apostasy. The true faith was lost until Martin Luther recovered it in the sixteenth century. Then, nothing at all significant happened until the twentieth century, when Billy Graham started hosting his evangelistic crusades. Regrettably, we form caricatures of history on account of our ignorance of history.” If this topic is of interest to you, perhaps you’d enjoy a similar article I wrote last year: “The Cathedral of Church History.”
Photo by Jim Limcaco, Unsplash
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