Links to Your World, Tuesday January 8

50 Very Simple Ways to Be Romantic.

Kitchen Timesavers That Speed Up Dinner.

It’s time to revamp discipleship says Roy Edgemon, former discipleship director of Lifeway and father of our Lori Shepard.

If you want to win at “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” according to New Scientist magazine, the way to win is to start with scissors. (story) [HT: The Evangelical Outpost]

Read about a window washer who fell 47 stories and survived.

"Music, for [Eric] Clapton, has not been the end but rather the means for getting beyond his own selfishness and into a higher realm of existence where love, family, and integrity trumped sex, drugs, and rock and roll. . . . He always was susceptible to the truth." John Powell, reviewing Clapton's autobiography in First Things.

"Over the past decade and a half, psychologists have studied how regrets — large and small, recent and distant — affect people’s mental well-being. They have shown, convincingly though not surprisingly, that ruminating on paths not taken is an emotionally corrosive exercise" ("The New Year's Cocktail: Regret with a Dash of Bitters" in the NYT)

Are you a "compulsive hoarder"? Learn the signs and the consequences here.

Denzel Washington: “My Work is My Ministry.”

What makes us human? This author says artificial intelligence can mimic every human activity except creativity.

Mild Exercise May Counter Dementia.

“I remember as a little child hugging my father's leg at a gas station only to realize it wasn't his leg I was hugging. I was embarrassed! It was a case of mistaken identity. In the matter of evangelism, I'm concerned about a number of things that people take to be evangelism that aren't. And this case of mistaken identity can have consequences more serious than mere embarrassment.” That’s how Mark Dever begins an excellent article explaining five things mistaken for evangelism.

A worthy New Year’s resolution: Read (or re-read) Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. According to the Denver Post, “This year marks the 30th anniversary of Foster's spiritual classic, named by Christianity Today magazine as one the top 10 religious books of the 20th century. It's sold nearly 2.5 million copies and been translated into more than 20 languages” (story).

Have you read the previous posts since last Tuesday? They include the “Song of the Week“ (this week, a children’s song by my wife, Diane, “Even the Fish Obey Him”). Also, notable quotables regarding the state of the presidential race.