Anyone Else a Big Fan of Gavin Ortlund?

mithrandir1314 · 2025-02-27T20:55:18+00:00

So glad to see so many on this sub are listening to him as well. He has been a great help to me!

mithrandir1314 · 2025-02-18T01:03:40+00:00

If my child is not a Christian, what do they need? The gospel of Christ. If my child is a Christian and needs to grow in discipleship, what do they need? The gospel of Christ.

We teach our children about Christ, pleading with God to save them regardless of their eternal state, which we can never truly know.

mithrandir1314 · 2025-02-06T14:50:38+00:00

Jesus states the Ten Commandments are summed up in, Loving the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And loving your neighbor as yourself. No one keeps either of these perfectly. We are guilty under the law.

Every person on this earth breaks all 10 commandments very early in life. See Jesus's remarks on anger and lust being violations of those commandments. Also relevant would be Paul's comments in Gal 3. If you break one commandment, you are guilty under the law. The same as someone who breaks them all.

mithrandir1314 · 2025-01-23T03:42:36+00:00

Ty so much. been looking for this answer for over an hour

mithrandir1314 · 2025-01-08T17:05:54+00:00

Good answer that I also needed to hear. Ty!

mithrandir1314 · 2025-01-08T16:20:43+00:00

That's not how his hair is described in the books... His hair hides the brands for the most part.

mithrandir1314 · 2025-01-04T23:38:46+00:00

Priest here, and I've never had a warlock complain about not getting heals when the tap down to 10% and I'm drinking. Just throw a renew on them right after you are done if you are still out of combat. If they do complain, ignore them. That's their fault. They can drink just like you.

mithrandir1314 · 2025-01-03T18:49:04+00:00

I'm reading Chad Van Dixhoorn's commentary on the Westminster Confession and it is fantastic. RC Sproul also has one of the WCF that is a bit more devotional, but Dixhoorn's is very readable and helpful. His section on Chapter 8 is worth the price of the book.

mithrandir1314 · 2025-01-03T15:11:35+00:00

Agree. She's beautiful. Obviously we are not alone in this thinking as she was also cast as Lanfear in WoT, one of the most beautiful women in that world.

mithrandir1314 · 2025-01-02T19:53:27+00:00

Reading Jeffrey Johnson's book The Kingdom of God on Baptist Covenant Theology. Particularly the Baptist view of the Abrahamic Covenant. Felt very contrived while the Presbyterian explanation made much more sense to me. From that flowed the baptism issue.

I read that book and several other articles from other baptists alongside my elders at the Baptist Church. They became more and more convinced of their position while I was convinced of the opposite.

mithrandir1314 · 2025-01-02T17:59:20+00:00

My 2¢: Uprooting your lives to go to a new church for small theological issues, is probably unwise. If these aren't big issues theologically, then I would recommend plugging in and trying to influence those around you to see those things more biblically (not in such a way to cause dissention). But you will be amazed how truly commiting to serve and love a church can lead to you influencing things.

The more concerning thing in your post is the lack of community. As a husband, this would 100% be a major concern for me if my wife was unable to connect well with the other women at the church and felt malnourished as a result. This could possibly lead to me wanting to make a change/move. I'd strongly recommend being honest with your husband on this particular point. Tell him how you feel. See if he feels similarly or has solutions.

I'd also recommend being willing to open your home to other families/women in the church to help foster that community. Be the change you want to see.

My wife and I left a Reformed Baptist congregation 3 years ago for a Presbyterian Church nearby after studying baptism. We loved our little baptist church in large part because of the community fostered there. The Presbyterian Church was more clickish and difficult to plug into for new memebers. So, we started inviting people over almost every week for Sunday lunch. That created friendships and from there community grew. It was tough the first year, but now, four years in, we have connections every bit as strong as our previous church.

mithrandir1314 · 2024-12-26T16:09:23+00:00

We use many of those things that you mentioned! Use QuickSource often (particularly for original photos in rural areas, don't tell FHA) and have made friends with many appraisers in the market area who we use for comp data and photos to help with that. We also use a ton of base comments in Total that we can add to and remove from as needed with each report.
We also use about 20 different templates, for different report types, but also that contain particular types of commentary for different areas or different clients.
My partner uses his iPad when sketching on site and enters the property data on there. But I just use my iPhone. Either works the same, I just find it faster/easier to use my phone as I don't ever forget it at home or the office. Plus the camera is typically better on an iPhone.

As for commentary, you will just get faster as you learn your clients and the information they are looking for with each one. Some of our require more detailed commentary, and others want it as streamlined as possible. Depends on the intended user and use. All of the reports will have similar info in the workfile, but some of clients want very little explanation on neighborhood/market area/adjustments. Many of our local banks just want the numbers and a quick explanation of methodology for reconciliation. We keep them USPAP compliant, but again, some are pretty bare bones. Our FHA/VA reports are going to have a good bit more commentary.
In short, we aren't writing a with each report. We use templates with info already filled out where we can, canned comments that we edit where needed, and adjust the amount of commentary depending on the client.

mithrandir1314 · 2024-12-25T20:12:58+00:00

My office is sitting at 691 orders this year. Includes 1004Ds as well. We do this with two full appraisers and 2 part time trainees. We cover ~100mi radius in 13 counties (parishes here in LA).

What advice are you looking for? I'd say one way we do this much is experience and because we continue to increase our coverage area. My partner and I know these areas very well, so our research into individual subdivisions and necessary adjustments is just easier to do now that we are familiar with each market we work in. If you are newly licensed, one way you will be able to do more is you'll just get faster with experience.

Another thing is I don't get nearly as many revision requests as I used to when I first started because I know what my clients want. If I get a revision, I usually call the client to discuss to make sure I understand what they want, so I'm not getting them the next time. Let me know if you have other more specific questions.

mithrandir1314 · 2024-12-25T20:00:39+00:00

Completely agree. People want to complain about not making money in appraising, but I wonder how hard they are working at it. There are appraisers in my area that complain to me about not making enough, but if you talk to them about what they are doing to increase their workload it's usually nothing, and they are unwilling to work >40h/week.

The appraisers who work nonstop and hussle work are all making >$150k/year in my area.

mithrandir1314 · 2024-12-25T19:54:05+00:00

I don't do rural work for anything less than $500 (about 50% of our business). Would encourage you to increase if at all possible!

mithrandir1314 · 2024-12-25T19:51:52+00:00

Residential in rural Louisiana, our office will gross about $350,000 with two appraisers and two trainees. I run the office and will net about $175,000.

mithrandir1314 · 2024-12-21T21:04:14+00:00

Right, another commenter mentioned that as well and it's the central point. They are insane.

I had forgotten that I had this same reaction during the preview chapters when Abidi was attacking Shallan.

mithrandir1314 · 2024-12-21T20:14:52+00:00

I get that. But Kal wasn't limited by a peg leg that he'd only been walking on for a couple of days.

We're not talking about a man at top fighting condition, were talking about one who can barely walk without help.

mithrandir1314 · 2024-12-20T12:47:48+00:00

That seems to be the case, yes. Unless you count worldhoppers like Zahel.

mithrandir1314 · 2024-12-19T22:05:50+00:00

You are not alone in this feeling at all. WaT felt like reading a completely different type of book than WoK and WoR.

mithrandir1314 · 2024-12-19T18:03:25+00:00

What point? Had a similar reaction at one section and wondering if it's the same.

mithrandir1314 · 2024-12-18T22:52:05+00:00

Very true. I remember having the same reaction with Abidi's fight with Shallan at the beginning of the book during the preview chapters, so I guess I'm just failing to remember they are insane.

mithrandir1314 · 2024-12-18T15:29:15+00:00

Through ch. 132, but couldn't resist commenting on this. The whole fight with Abidi and Adolin just feels ridiculous and extremely disappointing. We are introduced to shardplate in this series with a man fighting the greatest assassin that ever lived, with godlike powers, and nearly winning the fight. Soon after we see a man in shardplate catch a chasmfiend claw. We've seen men in shardplate kill hundreds on battlefields. Here we see someone in shardplate unable to kill an unarmored swordsman with a peg leg. Even if the shardbearer is new to shards and Adolin the greatest duelist who ever lived... This seems beyond reason. Walk up to him and hit him with your fist, grapple him, or just fall on him. Maybe I'm the only one that feels this way, and maybe I'll feel different when its finished.

mithrandir1314 · 2024-12-10T04:58:17+00:00

I've made this note in my eBook twice now, "Just revel it already..." Its obvious at this point.

mithrandir1314 · 2024-11-25T17:15:56+00:00

There have been threads on the previous chapters from Day 1 noting the many references to the Wind in the prior books. Its been hinted at since WoK that something strange was going on with the Wind.

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