It's officially the wettest drought on record in England.

Since the hosepipe ban in the South East started 6 weeks ago, it just hasn't stopped raining. The unrelenting grey gloom out of the window of The Good Book Company offices in Epsom is only interrupted by the occasional delight of a rainbow. The appearance of which tells us that the latest shower has passed by, and the sun is out.

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1. Articles on Sermon Prep and Preaching What Sermon Prep Really Looks Like
8 Ways to Pray During Sermon Preparation
6 Bullet Points on Preaching 2. 4 Reasons to Remember Your Creator in Your Youth David Murray of Ligonier Ministries shares these great reasons. 3. The Book of 1 Corinthians in 40 Tweets Jonathan Parnell of Desiring God summarises the book in a series of tweets. 4. The Pastor's Wife The third part of a three part series by The Gospel Coalition looking at the primary ministry of a pastor's wife. 5. And finally… Our video of the week from Cornerstone Church Kingston. The first in their 'A-Z of Christianity' series, starting with the topic of Adoption:
Found something that you think should make it on to the On to a Good Thing round-up? Send it to: ontoagoodthing@thegoodbook.co.uk

If you’ve ever found it hard to keep your priorities right or your diary tight... If you’ve ever wondered how to stay engaged and enthusiastic in whatever ministry God has equipped you to serve... then you have experienced a struggle that is common to most of us who are active in the local church. A struggle that, if not addressed carefully and biblically, can drag us down.

At a seminar at the Christian Resources Exhibition last week a group of church administrators and I spent 45 minutes looking at how we could use the principle of purposeful pairs to help us persevere in the face of such difficulties.

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I looked up the word Career in the dictionary the other day and the definition resonated. It said:

"Career (verb): An uncontrolled headlong rush normally ending in disaster"

I grew up in a "non-believing" home, with some pretty wild older siblings. Dysfunctional doesn't quite describe it. When I first started going to a gospel-teaching church as a teenager, I was drawn to a warm Christian family, and eventually responded to the message that made me a part of it.

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Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4 v 16-18

I blogged a few days ago about my visit to the Picasso exhibition that’s running at Tate Britain in London. Each room explored Picasso’s influence on a modern British artist, one of whom is Francis Bacon. I’m not a huge fan of Bacon’s work, so was scanning the paintings quite quickly – until I came across one that literally made me recoil with a shudder. I hated it. It was a triptych – the three paintings displayed side by side – each as horrible as the next.

Intrigued to know why I’d reacted so strongly, I went closer to read the blurb, and discovered that the three images were of people at the foot of the cross. That explained my revulsion. Bacon had cleverly taken the hate, spite, cruelty and self-righteousness of those who had crucified Jesus and were now watching, perhaps even gloating, as He died. “Yes”, I thought, “that’s the sick, evil rejection of God’s King”. And I felt the same revulsion for those wicked people that I had felt for the paintings.

And then I paused. Because it was my sin that held Jesus on the cross, just as much as theirs. The revulsion I felt is a slight glimpse of how we should respond to all sin – not just the obvious, the cruel, the violent – but all my “little” sins as well. The truth is that I have rejected God’s King every bit as much as those jeering onlookers. And it is only through His loving death for me that I now have the privilege of knowing Him as my Lord and Saviour. So now I’m really pleased that I hated Bacon’s work so much. Because through it I have been reminded of the blackness of my own heart, and the wonderful forgiveness made possible, and offered freely, by the one who died and rose again.

We're having a very busy week at the Christian Resources Exhibition so if you're having a busy time at the moment and struggling to fit everything in you'll find this weeks deal very useful! For the next week only you can get £4 off Tim Chester's book A Busy Christian's Guide To Busyness. We think it's great but don't just take our word for it....

'Tim Chester gets to the heart of why we are too busy, and unmasks the deceptions that drive our behaviours. This helpful book offers many practical time-saving tips and a biblical treatment of the busyness disease afflicting so many of us.'
- Paul Valler, former Finance and Operations Director, Hewlett-Packard Ltd

All you have to do is put in the code toobusy at the checkout.

Offer expires 18/05/2012

Anglican preacher barred from pulpit over opposition to gay marriage

Obama: Christ and the Golden Rule informed support of same-sex marriage

Evangelical voters: lift every voice

US Methodists uphold stance on same-sex relationships

Should we allow faith schools at all?

Australia's blurred separation between church and state

It’s a safe bet that at a significant number of evangelical churches last Sunday, the service leader said something like:

“Now Sue’s going to come and read from the Bible, and then our pastor Steve is going to explain the passage to us.”

When I lead, that seems to be my default for explaining what a sermon is: I usually find myself saying that Steve (in our case) is “going to explain the passage to us”.

But I’m not sure that’s a good thing to say—certainly not a good thing to almost always say. A couple of reasons why:

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There’s a fascinating exhibition running at Tate Britain in London, called Picasso and Modern British Art. It traces the legacy and influence of Picasso on seven British artists including Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore and David Hockney. It’s well worth a visit. One room focuses on a visit Picasso made to London in 1919 to work on the scenery and costumes for Sergei Diaghilev’s ballet The Three-Cornered Hat. It reminded me of watching that same ballet, with Picasso’s scenery and costumes – though not in 1919. It was part of a programme of short ballets where the décor and/or costume designs were by well-known artists. My memory of The Three-Cornered Hat is lots of reeling around by a miller and his wife. But the ballet that really stuck in my mind was very different…

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