In the Margins - 9/16/2026

Things I Read

John Piper’s “Daily Vigilance for Lifelong Productivity” is golden.

Things I Listened To

Missionary (a wonderful ministry aiming to encourage and inspire local churches toward the Great Commission) has a podcast worth listening to. You might even recognize the silky smooth voice that introduces each podcast.

Things I Watched

D.A. Carson uses Genesis 39 as a case study for properly studying Old Testament narrative. What a gifted man. Thankful for his life and ministry.

Things I Thought

I've been pondering the connection between thankfulness and purity, per Ephesians 5. Also planning to write an article for parents on the subject.

Quotes to Ponder

Thought this was a good paragraph from Abigail Adams, wife of our second president John Adams. She was writing to her son (John Quincy, who would be our sixth president) around the time of the American Revolution.

"These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman." 

This aligns with Scriptural teaching, "suffering produces endurance" (Rom. 5:3).