The Mockingbird

EverydayTestimony The Unnecessary Shame of Starting a GLP-1 Bennett Rhodes / 8.17.26 I didn’t want my wife or kids to watch me when I injected Zepbound into my thigh for the first time last night, so I retreated to my office in the back of the house. It was time. Three-hundred and fifty pounds is not a functional body weight, and years of diets, fasting, and 12 step work had convinced me I was powerless over my eating.

Week In Review Confession with AI, Consolation with Hallmark, Impossible Shopping, and the Values of Obituaries Will McDavid / 8.14.26 1. At the New York Times, Alice Lassman provides an eye-opening reflection on AI and intimacy. AIs often function as a place to take worries that seem silly and thoughts that seem irrational, or to reveal character flaws you don’t want your friends to know about.

BusinessIdentityTheology Vocation, Johnny Appleseed, and the Parable of the Sower Matthew L. Rubinstein / 8.14.26 Several Sundays ago, during church service, I found myself thinking about Johnny Appleseed. You know, the folk hero some of us hear about in elementary school. More specifically, I found myself thinking about a silhouette lithograph that has been in our home for several years. My wife found it at an estate sale, and I liked it immediately.

Testimony A Thirty-Day Timeline Martin Reed / 8.13.26 The story of how people start smoking is rarely all that interesting. They all tend to follow the same narrative arc: social smoking to just-for-now stress smoking to planning your day around smoking. Nicotine is, as far as chemicals go, highly addictive, so it doesn’t take much of a push to get those skis moving downhill.

The Recovery of Boyhood in the Hearts of Men What does growing up even mean? A wonderful breakout session from the recent NYC Conference:

Grace in PracticeRadioTV Listening to the Office Ladies in the ICU Ariana George / 8.11.26 I am listening to a podcast while my daughter naps in the hospital crib beside me. Her IV arm is draped across her face, and the striped hospital blankets gently rise and fall with her breath. It is Sunday evening. I should probably put on another Bible podcast, but after the latest overwhelming update from the doctor, I just need to distract myself and decompress.

MusicThe Brothers Zahl All the Music from Season Four David Zahl / 8.10.26 The fourth season of The Brothers Zahl podcast is in the books! See here in case you missed any episodes — and if you can, pretty please drop a rating or review of the show wherever you get your podcasts. As usual, the fourth star of the show was the music, featuring Tina Turner, Andy Squyres, ABBA, the Mountain Goats, and so many more deep cuts. Here’s a solid three hours of captivating tunes.

Week In Review When You Look in a Mirror, What Do You See? Todd Brewer / 8.7.26 1. It is a rare thing for the internet stars to align, but it’s actually happened this week. The articles of a weekender column have serendipitously coalesced around a single theme. So buckle up and enjoy the ride. St. Augustine identified sin as fundamentally a problem of disposition. One is “incurvatus in se” or inwardly looking, a self-obsessive gaze that does not look outward toward God.

Literature “No eye was on the sparrow. No one was watching me.” Josh Retterer / 8.7.26 Her not so secret crush sent a letter accompanied by a bottle of champagne. The sender suggested it was something that Joan Didion and her husband John Gregory Dunne could “sit and sip quietly by candlelight.” One might call that rizz, a quality her crush, John Wayne, possessed in abundance.

FeaturedFilm “We love you because you’re you. I want you to remember that.” Caleb Blow / 8.6.26 Audiences have witnessed Peter Parker facing his enemies for decades on the silver screen. Yet, in Brand New Day, Spider-Man must face the ultimate enemy — himself. And it isn’t just the symbiote this time. As we catch up with our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, he is finally doing friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man things.