Links To Go (October 15, 2015)

A Pastor’s Journey from Gay Pride Parades to the Pulpit

When Caleb Kaltenbach was two years old, both his mother and father came out as gay, then got a divorce. Growing up, he absorbed their antagonism toward Christians, but went on to embrace Christianity as a teenager. In Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction (WaterBrook Press), Kaltenbach, a pastor in Southern California, charts the path to reconciling with his parents, who are now both believers. CT assistant editor Morgan Lee spoke with Kaltenbach about his experiences ministering to people with same-sex attraction.


Bad News, Indeed — Playboy Opened the Floodgates and Now the Culture is Drowning

The iconic magazines of the sexual revolution, the very magazines that promoted the sexual revolution and opened the floodgates to even more explicit and graphic pornography, have lost their ability to shock, their ability to sell themselves to the public, and their cultural relevance — and it is precisely because the culture has become Playboy and what was once shocking is now a feature of mainstream American culture.


Stupid Phrases for People in Crisis

“There is something about suffering that longs for someone to sit with us through the pain. It’s the fellowship of suffering. It’s the words ‘you are not alone’ put into action. The sitting bears witness to our pain. More than a card or a casserole, the familiar, patient presence of another says to us ‘it’s too much for you to bear, but I will be with you, I will sit with you.’”


Paul Ryan’s big speaker hangup is reportedly his family. For a male lawmaker, that’s unusual.

Someone is sure to point out that Ryan’s children are well past the swaddling and wake-up-at-night stage. That’s true. But think long and hard about the implications of that idea, particularly if you are someone’s boss.
Ryan, a man in his mid-40s, has young kids. He is part of a younger generation of fathers who, while they do not match the time put in by their children’s mothers, are spending more time with their kids and doing at least a little more housework than fathers in the past. Is that really something to discourage?


Engaging Conflict Requires An Attitude

I’m not trying to suggest that conflict is easy. If it was easy, we wouldn’t try avoiding it or do so poorly with it at times. But ignoring conflict or failing to rightly deal with it allows what could be a great opportunity become a problem that threatens the and undermines the health of the church.


What Love Does to Walls

My perspective of the love Huey Lewis sings about is deep, sacred caring for another that allows us to hold on to our beliefs and others to hold on to theirs. It is that sacred love for humanity that is most important. The way I manage my walls is to make an effort to recognize what I believe, what others believe, and still commit to loving self and others in a sacred way, respecting the healthy and necessary walls around us.


Promotion, demotion and opportunity

In a fluid system, when people are moving forward, others are falling behind.
The question, then, isn’t, “when am I going to get promoted?”
No, I think the question is, “will I grab these openings to become someone who’s already doing work at a higher level?”
Act ‘as if’. If the people around you don’t figure out what an asset you’ve become, someone else will.


Why college hasn’t closed the gender wage gap

True, they’re not funneling into fields that will maximize their earnings, the way college-enrolled men seem keen to do. But women are still studying subjects that sound like they will get them stable jobs. And not just any jobs — jobs that tend to offer more flexible work schedules and lower penalties for rotating in and out of the labor force, such as teaching and nursing. The big, female-dominated majors also tend to offer higher grades, which perhaps tricks students into thinking they’re especially good at those subjects and therefore will have better employment prospects upon graduation.


Driver cited after hitting downed plane on I-84

Luckily, neither Nguyen nor his wife were injured in the accident. When asked by his wife how he didn’t see the plane Nguyen said he doesn’t usually look up while he’s driving.
“I only have two eyes not four,” said Nguyen. “I can’t look at the road and the sky at the same time.”


Armed Robbery Suspect Tries Using Uber as Getaway Car, Police Say

Cochran was seen getting into the back of a silver Lexus, and when officers pulled the car over, the driver said he was an Uber driver, police said.
The driver and a second passenger were released since it was determined they “had nothing to do with the robbery,” police said.


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