29 November 2011

Black (and Blue) Friday

Google the phrase, 'black friday incidents' and start reading.

Gun control? I think shoppers should have to attend a two-day training course, sort of like a hunter-safety course, but for shoppers.  Maybe we could cut down on the injuries and criminal behavior.  It might be safer to go hunting with Dick Cheney than to go to Wal-Mart on black friday.

Sheesh!

23 November 2011

Family Time

Enjoying the evening; my sister and her family are here and Mom will be over in the morning.  Having a houseful of family is lots of fun!

Happy thanksgiving to everyone!

14 November 2011

Why We Didn't Hear About the Death of Dick Winters

I'm not unlike just about everyone who read Ambrose's books on WWII, or saw the mini-series Band of Brothers: Maj. Dick Winters is a hero in our eyes.  He was the longest-surviving officer of the 506th PIR, and died this past January at the age of 92.  I wrote about it here.

Almost no one heard about his death.  Here is a great article from the National Review on why.


Apologetics Study Bible Giveaway

I'm giving away a copy of the Apologetics Study Bible (HCSB version).  It is a brown, bonded-leather edition.

To enter, submit your name and email in the form below.  I'll randomly draw a winner on Saturday, Nov. 19th.


A Thought for the Day

"The issue for Christians is not whether we are going to be theologians but whether we are going to be good theologians or bad ones."  -R. C. Sproul, from Knowing Scripture.

11 November 2011

11.11.11



 For all those who paid the penultimate price-






Then there's this.

10 November 2011

Happy Birthday, USMC!

 (HT: Sgt Grit)

Today is the 236th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. My hat is off to all who served, and especially today to those who wore the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor.

If you don't read the Sgt Grit Newsletter, you should.  It comes by email once a week, and is full of stories sent in by Marines of all eras.  Here's where to sign up for it.

Semper Fi!

09 November 2011

08 November 2011

Sproul-Mates

I can't even begin to count the number of people I've met, many in the blogosphere, who have something in common with me.  We were all once stuck in some form of humanistic understanding of God, our theology peppered with nice phrases about God's sovereignty and authority, but in practical reality, we all acted as though we, and not God, were really sovereign.

Then something changed.

The thing that happened to all of us was an introduction to reformed theology.  Not the dry academic kind, but the gospel-focused, mission-oriented, God-glorifying kind.  We were introduced, often accidentally (of course, we now know it was providential, not accidental!), by faithful men proclaiming God's word in its fullness. There are many names that come up in these discussions and some appear much more commonly than others.  Names like Boice, Kennedy, Piper, Mahaney, Dever, Horton, Ferguson, and Mohler are usually mentioned. Lately I'm hearing more and more Chandlers and Chans, and even a few Driscolls. But there are two names heard more often than any other: MacArthur and Sproul. And Sproul is usually universally mentioned.

Sproul gets the slight edge most likely due to his ability to take complex doctrinal issues and make them understandable, all the while engaging us with edge-of-the-seat stories that are filled with gospel truth have made him the key figure in almost everyone's story that is like mine.



I know there's been a bit of a backlash against 'celebrity pastors' recently, and rightfully so.  But I've never heard Dr. Sproul's name mentioned as one of these, because he isn't a celebrity, he's a leader and a teacher.  He may be well-known, but he's well-known for reasons primarily focused around respect, not glamor.  And he's appreciated not because he has a famous face or a national radio program (he has both), but because he's a father-figure to so many of us who have come into the light of the reformed faith late (or lately) in our lives. I don't know how much longer Dr. Sproul will continue in active ministry, though I hope it is many years.  What I do know is, there are a great many of us 'Sproul-mates' out here who hold a tremendous appreciation and respect for Dr. Sproul for his faithful ministry over the last four-plus decades. It's really funny; who would have imagined a baseball player from Pittsburgh amounting to anything!













Thank you for your service, Dr. Sproul!

04 November 2011

Weird Al is Not Only Appropriate, He's Necessary

I mentioned to some of you that Wednesday was double-Palindromic Day (11-1-11 and 11-02-2011); the second only occurs every twenty thousand years, I've heard.

What I forgot to mention was one of my favorite Weird Al videos.  Fellow blogger Pete Scribner posted a link to the video on his blog...go watch it. It's funny, if you like ironic humor.

So Weird Al is necessary to fully enjoy the double-Palindrome day!



(I might add- Weird Al often bases his songs on oldies and recent pop hits...this one is no different.  For those of you under the age of about 40, he's spoofing a 60s singer named Bob Dylan.  Here's the video of the Dylan song that Weird Al took 'Bob' from.  Here's the video of a Dylan song that sounds much like Yankovic's Bob.)

You may not appreciate Weird Al's work as much as I do, but you can't deny he's a creative genius. (Each of these link to a video on YouTube.)

Weird Al as MJ in 'Eat It'-


Weird Al as 'Gump'-


Weird Al as a contestant in, 'I Lost on Jeopardy'-


Weird Al as Obi-Wan Kenobi in 'The Saga Begins' (one of his most creative works)-


Weird Al as an Amish in 'Amish Paradise'-



Weird Al as MJ in 'Fat'-

Once Upon a Time...

Jonathan Parnell wrote this story over on the Desiring God blog.  It was too good not to repost.  (Sorry, Rangers fans!)

03 November 2011

A Better Way to Handle The Question

I've lampooned Joel Osteen here several times, most recently over his mishandling of the question of Mormonism.  But I haven't given an alternative, mostly because I hadn't seen one in the media that was worth mentioning.  I still haven't seen one in the US media (imagine that!), but thanks to the Ref21 blog, I found a pastor doing a pretty good job of it in the British media.

Here's the link.

I especially liked his comment that we (humans) won't be going to heaven or hell in groups.  Our eternity depends on what we do with Jesus' question in Matt 16:15, "Who do YOU say that I am?" (emphasis mine)

01 November 2011

Real Beauty

I love this vid trailer-


A Thousand Words (Give or Take)

This is a blog post without much text.  I'll let the following pictures make their own statements.

On politics-




On TV- (HT: Dan Phillips)




On sports-




On sacrifice-



On culture-  (HT: Tim Challies)

Reftagger