If you read one thing this week, check out Ellen Painter Dollar's cover story for the Christian Century: Messy Stories: Disability and the Choices Parents Make. To whet your appetite:

In the illness narrative, disabilities are seen as problems in need of solving, abnormalities that will surely bring great suffering to those affected and their families. In the identity narrative, anomalous conditions such as Down syndrome, autism or deafness are regarded not as flaws but as valuable manifestations of human diversity. The so-called abnormal conditions are disabling primarily because of societal prejudice, ignorance and exclusion, not because of inherent qualities of the conditions themselves.

I find both narratives incomplete, oversimplified and even dangerous when one is embraced to the exclusion of the other.

Book news includes:

1. My announcement of my next book, Small Talk (Zondervan, August 2014)

2. The release of Talking Taboo: American Christian Women Get Frank About Faith, a collection of essays with one by yours truly on headship in marriage (more on this in the weeks to come)

3. A book giveaway of  A Good And Perfect Gift! Offer ends today, so go to http://ow.ly/qtbvg if you want a chance to win.

And if you want more articles to get you thinking:

"The problem is, #kissing is no longer appreciated as a satisfying end in itself"ow.ly/qnAYl @mindykaling @NewYorker#Commitment

"Do pastors owe apologies for getting rich?"ow.ly/qqM4G @CT_women @Jenpmichel#Christians #Wealth #Ministry

"Selfishness demands, 'What's in it for me?', while #Love asks, 'What can I give?'"http://ow.ly/qtiQl #Marriage #Family@SethAdamSmith

"We need to be able to say #WhatWeBelieve without belittling one another."http://ow.ly/qtmvA #Opinions #PoliticalParties@nytimes

Living with an "intensity of belief"#SharingChristLove http://ow.ly/qtpon@drtomneal #Christianity #Fanatics

Even lipstick can be insulting. Kat Von D names a lipstick color "Celebutard" http://ow.ly/qx6Wh #Disability #RWord #Sephora (this lipstick has since been discontinued)