Morning Links

Good morning. Long time, no links, so there are a lot today.

  1. Chewbacca: High school photo.
  2. How to drive a long distance, with bonus points for Dirk Pitt and the pumice stone of gold…
  3. College campus signs
  4. Ponzi Scheme. Well, except for that whole thing where your payment ends.
  5. What is it with Grove City all the time? Somebody forgot to get the memo to me that it was such a Christian college.
  6. An embarrassment: “Red” china believes in Free trade, but America doesn’t? Next we’ll have Italy recommending free elections to us.
  7. More abortions in Pre-civil war days?
  8. Excellent suggestions for saving Narnia. On that same note, this guy has impeccable cred.
  9. A T-shirt I love.
  10. Dastardly!
  11. Muslim opinion of Christians still high.
  12. Exegesis = Hard work, then commentaries. I’m not so sure.
    “Exegesis” is a fancy word for “reading.” If I were conversant in Greek and Hebrew like the Apostle Paul, there wouldn’t be any “hard work” process of exegesis. On the other hand, the tricksy part of interpretation comes in making the connections between the little piece of text that you’re looking at to the rest of the Bible, to the original audience, through the lens of the cross, to the modern audience, on to implications and applications. That falls under the heading of “knowing what you’re talking about.” Knowing what you’re talking bout comes from being well-read (and of course, well led). In which case, I would really recommend even studying the commentary before studying the specific text of scripture – about two years before.
  13. Flash fiction. Excellently done, but eww…
  14. N.D. Wilson’s book tour schedule. I haven’t actually read any of his books yet, but I’m really starting to like him. Who else would accidentally lead with a quote?
  15. Mark Twain on books writing themselves. I relate.
  16. Under-the-radar book burning. Some Explanations (but not debunking) from Snopes.com
  17. Misconceptions on efficiency and unemployment. Another example of the Parable of the Broken Window.
  18. How to win at Monopoly without losing a friend. It cannot be done.
  19. Pirate! (I knew it too)
  20. Beards!
  21. With tricks like these… boy I wish I owned a house right now.
  22. Summa Elvetica. Great title.
  23. The problem of Everything. (and you thought theodicists had it hard). Also: the great evils committed by nobody in particular.
  24. On the abduction of scientists, which I thought involved aliens, but apparently not.
  25. On the state of nature. Actually, I’ve been thinking about this one. So nobody’s actually born into a state of nature. But that actually feeds into Hobbes’ point. A state of nature is bad. So why do you want to get “back” to it?
  26. District heating causes power plant efficiency to increase by 30% or more. But we don’t use it, mostly because of the NIMBY effect.
  27. Hospital quality: we don’t care. But hey, I’ve been avoiding hospitals since 1987, so I really don’t care!
  28. The Bra Dryer. I don’t know really that I would want this think lying around the house.
  29. Church takes position on two elements, considering others.
  30. Scary picture at the bottom.
  31. Art
  32. Thabiti Anyabwile, a pastor with a true man’s hobbies. Plus he’s in Grand Cayman.
  33. I’m not all that up-to-date on all things Baptist, but this appears to be a positive trend.
  34. LOL Saints! And another. Ehh, one more.
  35. Worst Best Man Ever. Actually, I don’t think it was his fault – I mean, who says their vows on a diving board anyway?
  36. Caught!
  37. The decline of revolutionary Iran. Very sad, actually.
  38. Does this count as vandalism?
  39. I think I worked for this company once.
  40. Trash talk for the gospel. Note the lack of participation by Al Mohler
  41. How do you survive an economic meltdown? Apparently the answer is – make no changes.
  42. Cave man in danger of forclosure. True story. Ah, but Missouri really has the best caves. It’s like a 68,000 square mile Swiss cheese made of limestone.
  43. From Paul – Didn’t I tell you? An excellent essay on tongues, though I’m not quite sure I agree with the, ah, exegesis at the end.
  44. Radical changes = Bad. Amen on all points! The odd thing is that I’ve heard Obama billed as a “gradualist.”
  45. Pretty Family Tree – King David’s
  46. I’m already embarrassed.
  47. Oh. That’s how you use a census to rig an election

Sorry for the long list. I promise not to say anything more until tomorrow.

Update

Hi guys. Looks like I’m behind a bit on my links. I’ll probably share some tomorrow. Events have been happening.

Last week was rough for David. Right after his first birthday, he developed a fever that kept him out of day care, so we rotated keeping him home. I stayed with him Tuesday, and Valerie’s mom took off Wednesday. That was the day, giving him some fever medicine, that Valerie’s mom had the joy of watching her grandson have a seizure. So he went to the hospital, where they discovered that he had gotten dehydrated (which can apparently cause seizures). Thursday Valerie stayed home with him, and by Friday, he was fine.

At the same time, David’s illness was also floating around at work – at least 2-3 people were home sick on various days that week, with high fevers. And on Thursday evening, I had a bout myself. So I had to call in sick a second time in a week (and the first time ever that it was actually me who was sick).

Around noon on Friday, I got a call from my temp agency – don’t come in on Monday. Apparently my day off was also my last day at work. Not really unexpected – our office has been closing down for some time, and this is the way of temp jobs. But at the same time, in most books, to let a person go when they’re not even there is plain rude.

Nevertheless, God is gracious and we are not ungrateful. We’ve been watching with familiar admiration all through this. In the years since I moved out on my own, though I’ve never particularly had any steady work, I’ve never been too short-handed to pay a bill that was due. Since we’ve been out of college, we’ve never even missed a paycheck, and this was no exception. I kept my job in a closing department, rather inexplicably, until Valerie had gotten her first paycheck. Now I’m looking again, and I’m confident that he will be faithful to provide – right at the last minute. 🙂

In other news completely, I’ve been thinking about changing our web address. First, It’s finally beginning to dawn on me that there is a certain measure of hubris in naming your site “spiritual,” in Greek no less, as though announcing to the world that this is exactly the embodiment of what you are. Secondly, nobody can spell it.

I’m thinking about changing it to something revolving around God’s grace, and the phrase that keeps coming to mind is from Psalm 18:34 (also 2 Sam 22:35)

“He teaches my hands to make war,

So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”

So I’m thinking BronzeBow dot net or org or something. There’s already a weblog at BowOfBronze.com, but I’m sure there’s plenty of room for all.

The Bronze Bow, of course, is also the title of a delightful children’s book by Elizabeth George Speare, which, oddly, was read to me in fourth grade, but I never owned.

Yesterday’s

Well, yesterday was exciting. David’s fever was apparently not just a teething issue. Or maybe it could have been, but he had a little seizure yesterday, which was apparently due to dehydration. At least, that’s what they said at the emergency room. They also discovered something in his lungs that looked like a little pneumonia, so they gave us an antiboitic, which is supposed to also help in case of the chance of UTI, which can happen when you get dehydrated for too long. His fever broke this morning, so he’s pretty much fine now.

Against my will – I’m grateful that we have insurance. Hospital visits are not cool.

And links:

  1. Galaga for girls
  2. Harsh words appropriate in theological debate. See also this excellent sermon by Mark Driscoll.
  3. Obama’s grammar better than Bush’s? Well, it’s at least as interesting.
  4. One more step in the right direction.
  5. Fascism!
  6. The drive to the bottom – and the gospel.
  7. Backups
  8. Beards. Not exactly why I have a beard – but it’s a nice line of thought.

Yesterday’s

Technically, this would be links from the day-before-yesterday, but that looks silly as a title. David had a fever yesterday, so I stayed home with him. He had no other symptoms, other than a general clinginess, so I’m going with a coworker’s theory that he’s just teething. Unfortunately, staying home means I’m completely out of my schedule and end up playing video games during my free moments. I come to work the next day so grateful for a job to prop up my sanctification.

Of course, now “Yesterday’s” is getting a little disingenuous for a title, since obviously I’m not always going to be able to get back to it the next day. Any suggestions what I should call these things?

On to the links:

  1. Mark Driscoll’s missed opportunity. I definitely think Driscoll blew it on this one. “Do you dig Jesus?” leaves it too open for the person to make up their own Jesus to believe in.

    A better question might be: “Do you understand that, apart from Jesus’ intervention on your behalf, you are a rebel and a traitor to God?” They may be traitors who go to church; they almost certainly are who refuse – How can you say you love God, whom you have not seen, when you hate your brother, whom you have?

  2. On reading books. I relate. I also know that when the hen ceases to lay eggs, it becomes a stew.
  3. Indiana Jones. As a citizen of Springfield.
  4. Economist Greg Mankiw corrects a journalist. The last two paragraphs are actually in English.
  5. Bussman’s holiday. So sad.
  6. Crochet – Bad! No!
  7. The Microsoft Store – via Windows Vista.
  8. Wiemar America
  9. Acquired heritable characteristics – does not apply to circumcision or baptism. Apparently applies to sin.
  10. Authenticity
  11. Apparently the church has never “been a philosophy” – not even what might be termed “the false church.”
  12. Dogs and cats.
  13. On Rule Breaking
  14. Competition
  15. Finale!
  16. Obama had a dream. (Satire)
  17. Marx Cat
  18. Economists agree (and I do too).

Over the weekend

It’s David’s birthday today – he’s one year old. I’d say it’s time for a new one, but we need a new house first. In other news, Valerie finally got her first paycheck today from her job as a social worker, so the possibility of getting a house (or at least an apartment) has increased significantly.

Here’s what I saw over the weekend:

  1. Grounds for divorce?
  2. The play’s the thing…
  3. I’m really growing to like Mark Driscoll. But apparently the SBC… doesn’t.
  4. Imitation crab meat. It’s made of Alaskan Pollock. In other words, imitation crab meat is real fish meat, artificially made to taste like crab. So, since I like “imitation” crab meat, how do I know if that means I’m a poser because I like the fake stuff, or if I just happen to like the fish that imitation crab is made of? Is there a place I can go to try plain Pollock?
  5. How exactly do you make a power grab with the census?
  6. I want.
  7. Ok. Yeah. If ever there were a damning catholic doctrine, this is it.
  8. Frank Schaeffer (Francis’ son) makes a fool of himself. Publicly.
  9. Against nose-blowing. There is, of course, an alternative.
  10. pathos. Immoral, but pathos indeed.

Yesterday’s

Good Morning. It looks like today is comics and economics today. That almost goes together.

  1. Turning back the clock.
  2. Balanced budget?
  3. Short story.
  4. I think we’re seeing a trend here of bad economics. Greg Mankiw is grateful.
  5. Tim Challies heaps hot coals on anti-calvinists.
  6. Forget the posts. Check that tagline!
  7. Apologies for the language – the satire was too good to pass up.
  8. LOLcats
  9. Customer service
  10. Crazy depends on your basis of comparison.
  11. How to do that which should not be done.

Yesterday’s

Good morning. We had a storm last night in the Knoxville region that had people panicking – almost my entire office left early so they could get home before the tornadoes came. The storm itself was very impressive – for 15 minutes.

  1. No.
  2. Prejudice looking for prejudice. Also: note the prejudice in the comments.
  3. There’s something to this perspective, but at the same time it’s not… quite… right. Which again, is of course why I’m not Orthodox.
  4. FDR.
  5. Freedom spelled backwards is…
  6. Poor management always backfires.
  7. One Sudafed short of a…
  8. Doug Wilson continues his critique of N.T. Wright. Remember: Wilson, the punchline is always at the end. His point about “not exegesis first, but Christ first” also rang home to me. Exegesis is good, but exegesis, when you exit Jesus, is blind.

Yesterday’s

Second attempt:

  1. Introverted inversion.
  2. Copper-bottomed theology?
  3. Excellent.
  4. Cotton Mather:Charismatic Puritan.
  5. Fixed gear = bleh. But check out the wheels on that sucker.
  6. Great news: Sherlock shaves his chest.
  7. I remember cracking a windshield with the defroster after an ice storm. Would this have worked then?
  8. Amen!The only people that Wal-Mart ever hurt were people who were hoping to charge premium prices for commodities.

    9. As for me, something I’ve been praying about lately is a sense of spiritual sluggishness. Everything’s right as rain, but it’s hard to pray, hard to pursue any spiritual disciplines. At least, it’s easy to go through practices, but when it comes to engaging the heart… I feel tired.

    Amazingly, since I’ve been praying about this, the greatest sense I’ve had has been of peace – almost to the point of feeling lackadaisical. And honestly, I think that may be right. Even a marathoner can afford to strain himself. But a pilgrim has to trek. The important thing is being steady, and a strain one day can lead to discontent the next.

Yesterday’s

I’m trying a new thing here, to keep up the blogging. I find I’m reading lots, but saying little at the moment. Writing takes time, preferably in long, consecutive clumps, and that I ain’t got much of lately. So:

  1. (emoticons)
  2. I see an eighty-year-old talk show host coming on.
  3. Forget JFK. This guy wants to be FDR!
  4. We knew it was bad, but at least it’s not the worst one yet.
  5. The brother on the left is cooler – he invented Cyrillic.
  6. This is the reason why I’ve decided that conversations about climate change really bore me.
  7. Interesting, yet expected.
  8. Some of these are fun, and some sad. But mostly, I don’t trust this list, since it includes the family farm and home-delivered milk on the list. If those are “about to disappear,” then we may have a little time on the others.
  9. The cellphones preach!
  10. Not proud or ‘nothin.
  11. This is just taking things too far.
  12. What, nothing?

Richard Sibbes is My New Hero

From his book, The Bruised Reed:

The Presence of the Heavenly Fire

  • First, if there be any holy fire in us, it is kindled from heaven by the Father of Lights, who “commanded the light to shine out of darkness” (2 Cor. 4:6). As it is kindled by the use of means, so it is fed. The light in us and the light in the Word spring the one from the other and both from the one Holy Spirit….
  • Secondly, the least divine light has heat with it in some measure. Light in the understanding produces heat of love in the affections….
  • Thirdly, where this heavenly light is kindled, it directs in the right way. For it is given for that use, to show us the best way, and to guide us in the particular passages of life; otherwise, it is but common light, given only for the good of others….
  • Fourthly, where this fire is, it will sever things of diverse natures, and show a difference between such things as gold and dross. It will sever between flesh and spirit, and show that this is of nature, this of grace….
  • Fifthly, so far as a man is spiritual, so far is light delightful to him. He is willing to see anything amiss that he may reform, and any further service discovered that he may perform, because he truly hats ill and loves good….
  • Sixthly, fire, when it is present, is in some degree active. So the least measure of grace works, as springing from the Spirit of God, who, from his operations, is compared to fire….
  • Seventhly, fire makes metals pliable and malleable. So grace, where it is given, makes the heart pliable and ready to receive all good impressions. Obstinate spirits show that they are not so much as smoking flax.
  • Eighthly, fire, as much as it can, sets everything on fire. So grace labors to produce a gracious impression in others, and make as many good as it can.
  • Ninthly, sparks by nature fly upwards. So the Spirit of grace carries the soul heavenward and sets before us holy and heavenly aims. As it was kindled in heaven, so it carries us back to heaven….
  • Tenthly, fire, if it has any matter to feed on, enlarges itself and mounts higher and higher, and, the higher it rises, the purer is the flame. So where true grace is, it grows in measure and purity. Smoking flax will grow to a flame; and, as it increases, so it discards what is contrary to itself and refines itself more and more.