Simmer Down Scribbler & SpideyGeek

It's just for a few days for the start of the season...

42: Simply the Best

(mental block today...maybe after I do this I can actually study... )

Opening Day is April 3^rd, which really should be a National Holiday, don't ya think? In honor of that momentous event, on study breaks, I've been reading Baseball blogs, watching Baseball games [a friend gave me a subscription to MLB.TV--can't thank him enough for that--dude, you need an organ at some point in the future--Arnold's got dibs on the kidneys, but anything else...], dusting my McFarlane figures, remembering that coveting is a sin, etc., etc. So I figure for a Friday post, might as well spend a little time talking about the best player around.

Now, it's no secret I'm a Yankee fan, but even if I wasn't, I would be in awe of this man

The sight of that man on the mound has got to be one of the worst things an opposing team can see. It generally means that what technically is a 9-inning game has just become an 8. This man, is of course, Mariano Rivera. aka, Mo, The Sandman (time to go to sleep opponents--from his theme song "Enter Sandman"), The Equalizer (from Roger Clemens), The Hammer of God.

His numbers are astounding...check out SI's nice summary. Last year alone--43 out of 47 Saves! An ERA of 1.38--his lowest ever. James Varghese summarizes last year this way (while projecting this year):

Last year, at the tender age of 35, Mariano posted one of his finest seasons ever. If you take out his misadventures against Boston in his first two appearances last year, his line for 2006 becomes: 1.17 ERA, 9.0 K and 1.8 BB per 9, .12 HRs a game and a 5.13 K/BB ratio. He also put up a line that I will never forget. On the road last year, he gave up one earned run in 35 innings (that's a 0.26 ERA with a 32/5 K/BB ratio). Maybe it was his decision to forgo pitching in the winter leagues during the offseason, maybe it was the implementation of a two-seam fastball into his arsenal, maybe he just found the fountain of youth. It might be a mixture of all three but whatever he's been doing, I hope he keeps doing it because it's worked.

1 Earned Run in 35 innings on the road! Mind-blowing to say the least. You can understand why Tom Kelley says, "We don't want to face him any more. He's too good. He belongs in a higher league. He should be banned from baseball."

And yet, how does he describe what he does? "I get the ball, I throw the ball and then I take a shower." He's a man of humility, a man of faith. He funded the building of a church in Panama City a few years back, he's said he plans on becoming an evangelical minister when he retires. From a recent article in The Hartford Courant:

It is Sunday morning at Legends Field, and Rivera has just come from chapel. His faith is never far from his thoughts, and at this moment he finds himself going through a thick three-ring binder filled with his baseball cards that someone has given him. They date from the early 1990s, when he was just out of Panama and pitching in Class A, and he began reliving it all.

"I've been blessed," he says softly. "You think about it, Mo doesn't have a big frame. Mo doesn't have a big breaking ball, Mo doesn't have different pitches. And yet Mo has done the job all those years. How have I done that? I am that person, and I tell you without God I couldn't have done it. That's why I never talk about myself."

His favorite Bible passage is Philippians 4:13 and he has "Phil 4:13" stitched on his glove.

"You know what it says?" he asks. "'I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.' It doesn't say, 'I can do some things.' It says all things."

I love Derek Jeter, A-Rod's great (in the regular season), Bernie's a hero, Giambi impressed the heck out of me in last year's comeback season, Jorge's great. But they're all human, they make mistakes, they have bad plays. I know those same things apply to Mariano, but when he throws a bad pitch, when he loses a game...it's so rare that it's hard to believe. He's just so good, so archetypical, that anyting less than perfection is a shock.

I remember a couple years ago, trying to impress upon Frodo and Samwise the importance of paying attention to him (it was late, they were bored, yet determined to finish watching whatever game it was), "Now guys, this is Mariano Rivera. He's the best at what he does. You probably won't see someone this good again." I love watching any 2 teams play..it's like a great painting or an epic poem (George Will can describe the poetry of the game better than I can, so I won't try), watching the Yankees is a joy, getting to watch Rivera is the best recreation around. And hey, he's the last man to wear number 42: Douglas Adams and Jackie Robinson combined!

I'll toss this back to Varghese from YanksBlog to close:

What can possibly be said about Mariano? Perhaps...I wish I had more hands so I could give him 4 thumbs up! No, for Mo, only the highest honor is worthy. That's right: I Heart Mariano. Anything less...would be uncivilized.

Carl Trueman at his best...

Pithy, humorous-yet-serious, and dead right...from Reformation21: Schiavo again.

Gospel Morality

The true light in which redemption should be habitually contemplated is that of a Divine institute of Holiness. Its immediate end is to restore the union between ourselves and God which sin has broken. It starts out with the great thought that the Happiness of an intelligent and moral creature is not something foreign, not the possession of an outward and separate good, not shining courts nor splendid halls, nor any other princely equipage of state, but the exercise of its own energies in God. To be happy it must be in sympathy with the Author of its being. Upon this lofty eminence the whole scheme is erected, and all its arrangements are directed to the achievement of two results--the removal of those judicial consequences of sin which repel God from the sinner, and of those moral obstructions which repel the sinner from God. Jesus, and the Daysman betwixt them, comes in and lays His hand upon them both. He bears our sins in His own body on the tree, and thus reconciles God to us; He cleanses our hearts by the washing of regeneration, and thus reconciles us to God; and that first friendly interview of the arties takes place at the foot of the Cross when we believe in Jesus. This whole scheme involves the moral system--the system, if you please, of Divine philosophy--upon which the government of God is conducted. It is the ethical system of the universe, and the Gospel is the only means, accordingly, by which we can attain true integrity. In rejecting it we are not rejecting crowns and sceptres; we are rejecting the very essence of virtue, and it is idle to pretend to a profound reverence for rectitude when we disregard the only means by which we can be restored to it. In this moral aspect I am anxious to recommend it to you. All your present excellencies are dead works, and when the influences which now embalm and preserve the corpse are gone, it will putrefy and stink. The first step in real moral improvement is faith in the Son of God. When that step is taken we begin to live; until then we are dead in trespasses and sins.

-- James H. Thornwell

Arnold (formerly known as Kidney Kid) Update 3/22 (posted late)

Had another visit with Arnold's nephrologist this week (backstory links here). He's still pleased, but the kidney function is down to 48%. Not a huge drop, but a drop nonetheless. However, his great-grandma was quick to point out that her nephrologist tells her that kidneys have good and bad days, so perhaps the blood was drawn on a bad day. Basically the doc thinks we're in a period where he'll be hovering in the 50%ish area for function--bouncing around that number for awhile and then getting worse. No guess at a timetable at this time. Still, he's pleased and isn't asking us back for 4 months...so no worries at this time.

Part of the reduced function is just due to growth--he's putting on more muscle, etc. 'Tho even there, we're seeing some slowdown there--he used to be in the 50th percentile for head size and height--now in the 25th. Still in the 50th for weight, tho'. However, the nephrologist tends to go with quick and dirty measurements, so I'm not putting too much stock in these figures 'til he sees his pediatrician in a few days.

Otherwise, he's doing well--still a bit lagging in the talking department, but he's making progress. His temper is developing quite well, and his puppy dog expression is, too. On the whole, still good natured, loves to help his "Daa-ee" with a few daily routines, and jumps out of his skin when his mother comes home.

So that's the state of the kid. Thanks for your interest and prayers--they're working.

Why do you think I'm overly self-concscious?

So the bell in my headset goes off, letting me know someone had pulled up to the menu board last night.

"Thanks for choosing McDonald's, how can I help you?"
"Um, gimme a second to think."
30+ seconds tick off"Hey, I think I've changed my mind."

Now this is very odd, people normally just drive off if they do that--usually gunning their engine as they do so, as if to express anger that our menu and their late night cravings (and/or cash) didn't match up.

"Sorry to hear that, have a nice night."
"Don't worry, it wasn't your voice or anything...you didn't do anything wrong."

And they drive off politely.

What the *BLEEP* is wrong with my voice?!?!?

Thank You, Jonah!

I've been neglecting the Noise lately, and it's been bugging me...still have a few irons to get out of the flames...so as I sip a cup of Joe to help me get going, I'm reading some political blogs (note to self: get coffee filters tonight or tomorrow's gonna be ug-ly, with a capital ugh). And Jonah Goldberg comes through for me, I gotta get one of these.


(if I ever got around to doing one of those topic indexes, this'd go under "Random Nonsense to Keep the Blog Going")

Footnote to below

If you ever hear me say something about posting an outline into blogger...please shoot me.

Oh, yeah, a snippet of that sermon will be showing up at the Jonathan Edwards blog, if you're interested.

God Glorified in Man's Dependence

Way, way back in January, I posted a quotation from Jonathan Edwards that prompted a question from girlfriday (which she reminded me about a few times, and then probably decided I didn't care about answering/forgot about or what have you). But my memory is long, 'tho my time is short. But finally, here is my summary/outline of the sermon that quotation came from "God Glorified in Man's Dependence" (btw, it was Edwards' first published sermon). Hopefully this helps answer the question. If not...I'll take another stab at it between now and July (probably) :)

1 Corinthians 1:29-31: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Introduction:
This text helps us to see why God "chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise..." (v. 22), "That no flesh should glory in his presence." From this we observe:

1. God's goal in the disposition of things in redemption is that man should glory only in God, and not himself.
2. This goal is met by "that absolute and immediate dependence which men have upon God in that work." This dependence is seen in:
   1. All good that they have is in and through Christ ("made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption")
   2. It is God that has given us Christ ("who of God is made...")
   3. It is God that gives us faith whereby we close with Christ, so that we may receive these benefits (see a).

Edwards summarizes his introduction by stating, "So that in this verse [v. 30] is shown our dependence on each person in the Trinity for all our good. We are dependent on Christ the Son of God, as he is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We are dependent on the Father, who has given us Christ, and made him to be these things to us. We are dependent on the Holy Ghost, for it is of him that we are in Christ Jesus; it is the Spirit of God that gives faith in him, whereby we receive him, and close with him."

Doctrine:
"'God is glorified in the work of redemption in this, that there appears in it so absolute and universal a dependence of the redeemed on him.'--Here I propose to show, 1st, That there is an absolute and universal dependence of the redeemed on God for all their good. And 2dly, That God hereby is exalted and glorified in the work of redemption."

1. The nature and plan of our redemption is such, that the redeemed are directly, immediately, and entirely dependent upon God for all of redemption. He is the cause/origin of all the good they receive; he is the channel through which it is obtained; and he is the good itself given.
1. All the good that the redeemed have is from God: he is the author of it, he is the first (and only proper) cause of it. God provided a Savior and Redeemer for us--Jesus is from God as God's only Son, but he's also from God in that God gave him to us, anointed him, appointed him as mediator. God gave the Savior, and God accepts the Savior. This is from God: that Christ becomes our, we are brought to and untied to him; we receive faith to close with him; we receive all the benefits that Christ purchased. God pardons, justifies, delivers, cleanses us from our filthiness, changes us. God gives the redeemed all their wisdom, holiness, excellence. The Holy Spirit is God and it's through his work and indwelling that these are conferred. Also, these goods come from God in that the Spirit proceeds from the Father (as well as the Son).Yes, God uses means to confer grace on the soul's of men--but God gave the means, and he makes them efficacious: the Scriptures; the sacraments (again, their efficacy is dependent upon him); ministers of the Gospel.
1. The redeemed have all from the grace of God--it's of mere grace that God have us his Son.
1. The greatness of this grace is seen in proportion to:
1. the excellency of what is given--the gift is infinitely precious because of his inherent infinite worth and because he was "infinitely near and dear" to God.
2. the benefit we have given us--it's a doubly infinite benefit: we're delivered from infinite/eternal miser and given eternal joy
3. the humiliation and expense of the method and means by which a way is made for our having the gift--he gave him to dwell amongst us, in our nature, in like infirmities; in a low and afflicted state; moreover as slain.
2. The grace of God in giving this gift is free--there was nothing obliging God to give it. He could've rejected man as he did the rebellious angels, but while we were enemies--before we repented--he gave us this gift. It was from God's love ('tho we were not attractive and there was no hope of it being returned), from mere grace, that Christ's benefits are applied--no merit in us.
3. Men depend more on God's grace now than before the fall. Pre-fall, he depended on God's goodness giving the reward for his obedience (God wasn't under any obligation to promise anything to Adam). But now we depend on his grace for much more: not just to glorify us (as Adam), but to deliver us from Hell and his wrath. Adam depended on God to reward his righteousness from his goodness and grace. We depend on God to give us that righteousness, to pardon our sin, and release us from the guilt of it--and this only comes from his free and sovereign grace. Not only are we more dependent upon God's grace, but we're dependent on more of it--it takes a greater degree of grace for the unholy to be made holy, than it took for Adam to be created holy.
4. Our dependence is more obvious, too--because our insufficiency and helplessness is more apparent now than it was before the fall. "It is more apparently free and without merit in us, because we are actually without any kind of excellency to merit, if there could be any such thing." "We are not only without any true excellency, but are full of, and wholly defiled with, that which is infinitely odious. All our good is more apparently from God, because we are first naked and wholly without any good, and afterwards enriched with all good."
2. The redeemed have all from the power of God--the great power of God is seen in bringing sinners from their low state, from depths of sin to the exalted state of holiness (Eph 1:19).
1. We are dependent on the power of God in every step of redemption: to convert us, to give us faith in Christ; to give us a new nature; to preserve us in a state of grace (1 Peter 1:5). Man is dependent upon God for every exercise of grace, for increasing in holiness, doing good works, perfecting grace, for the raising of the body to life.
2. Man was depended on God's power before the fall, too, but moreso now. God's power is needed to do more for us, and more of it is needed. It took power to make man holy, and now moreso, because there is opposition and difficulty in the way. Additionally, it is a more glorious exercise of power to uphold a soul in a state of grace and holiness, to preserve it until it is brought to glory, while there is so much sin resisting that work, and Satan is opposing it too.
2. The redeemed are also depended on God for all good, because it all comes through him. He's the author and source of the good (see 1), but he's also the medium, the conduit of all the good. The wisdom, happiness, eternal life, grace, holiness, etc. comes from God via a Mediator. And the Mediator isGod--whom we have an absolute dependence upon.
1. Adam didn't depend on him this way—he was to have eternal life through his own righteousness--so he partly depended upon himself (though his righteousness was from God, but it was his), it wasn't an immediate dependence upon God. But now the righteousness we depend on isn't ours--it's Christ's.
3. The redeemed have all their good in God. God is all our good.
1. Their objective good in God (the external thing that we possess and enjoy). By our redemption we come into the possession of God himself—he's the highest good, the sum of all the goods Christ purchased. He's the inheritance of the saints; our wealth, treasure, life, food, dwelling place. We have none in heaven but God.
1. "The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another: but that which they shall enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in anything else whatsoever that will yield them delight and happiness, will be what shall be seen of God in them."
2. Their inherent good in God (the excellency/pleasure in the soul itself). Inherent good is either excellency of pleasure.
1. The redeemed have these as they are caused by him, and in him. God puts his own beauty, his own holiness, his moral image in them (2 Pet. 1:4, Heb 12:10). The saints are beautiful and blessed by a communication of God's holiness and joy as the moon is brightened by the sun's light.
2. Saints have both their spiritual excellence and blessedness are a gift the of Spirit, and are theirs as he lives in them. He becomes a fountain of holiness and joy.
3. Here's the foulness of good that the redeemed receive in Christ:they partake of the Spirit, and in that they have communion with the fullness of Christ. The Spirit is the sum of the blessings Christ died to purchase, he's the subject of the Gospel promises (Gal 3:13,14; Lk. 24:49), he's what was promised to Christ, so that when we had finished the work of redemption, he could bestow it on all that the had redeemed (Acts 2:13).
2. God is glorified in the work of redemption by there being so great and universal of the dependence of the redeemed on Him.
1. Man has a great need and opportunity to notice and acknowledge God's perfections and all-sufficiency, and the more we're dependent upon them, the more notice we take of them, the more we focus on them. The things we're most concerned with, are the things we pay most attention to--particularly when it comes to those things we're dependent upon--those "especially tend to command and oblige" our attention. Because we're so dependent on God (in the persons of the Trinity) and his perfections in so many respects, he and our glory are in our view.
1. Similarly, we have greater occasion to take notice of God's all-sufficiency, when all our sufficiency is thus every way of him. "So much as the dependence of the creature is on God, so much the greater does the creature's emptiness in himself appear; and so much the greater the creature's emptiness, so much the greater must the fullness of the Being be who supplies him."
2. Having all from God, shows the fullness of his power and grace; our having all through him, shows the fullness of his merit and worthiness; and having all in him, shows the fullness of his beauty, love and happiness.
2. God's glory is shown by comparing it with the creature's--as we're totally and completely dependent on God, we see that we're nothing and God is all. It's as we see this (and not try to make ourselves equal--or less empty--in our eyes) that we can give God the glory due his name.
3. Because our dependence upon God is so total and absolute, he is to be the object of our undivided "respect" (i.e., worship, reverence). "If we had our dependence party on God, and partly on something else, man's respect would be divided to those different things on which he had dependence. Thus it would be if we depended on God only for a part of our good, and on ourselves, or some other being, for another part: or if we had our good only from God, and through another that was not God, and in something else distinct from both, our hearts would be divided between the good itself, and him from whom, and him through whom, we received it." But we have no opportunity for this now.

Use:

1. We see the "marvellous wisdom of God" in the plan of redemption: he's taken man's fallenness, miserly, fallen state to an occasion of the greater advancement of his own glory, in the display of the utter dependence of man upon God. "And each person of the Trinity is equally glorified in this work: there is an absolute dependence of the creature on every one for all: all is of the Father, all through the Son, and all in the Holy Ghost. Thus God appears in the work of redemption as all in all."
2. Those doctrines and schemes that are in any respect opposite to such an absolute and universal dependence on God, take from his glory and thwart the plan of our redemption. The schemes seek to put the creature in place of God in any of the respects described above, to exalt man into the place of Father, Son, or Spirit in redemption.
1. Yes, they may talk of a dependence on God, but they deny a dependence that is absolute and universal. Dependent for some things, but not all. For example: they grant dependence on the Father for giving the Son, and on the Son for his work, but not entirely on the Spirit for conversion, and coming to Christ. Or they grant dependence on God for the means of grace, but not entirely for the benefit and success of those means.
2. "Now whatever scheme is inconsistent with our entire dependence on God for all, and of having all of him, through him, and in him, it is repugnant to the design and tenor of the gospel, and rob it of that which God accounts its lustre and glory."
3. This shows us one reason that faith is how we partake in redemption: there is included in the nature of faith, an acknowledgment of our utter dependent on God in it. The soul that believes, depends entirely on God for all salvation. "Faith abases men, and exalts God; it gives all the glory of redemption to him alone."
4. We're thus exhorted to exalt God alone, to give him all the glory of redemption. We are to work to understands and increase in the sensibleness of our great dependence on God. This doctrine leads us to exalt God alone--by trust, by reliance and by praise. "Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord."

I trust this isn't what Whedon has in mind

Lee Goldberg points to this post by Mark Evanier pointing to this short demo for a Wonder Woman TV show. No, not the Lynda Carter one...something far, far, different. Apparently the producer of the 60's Batman show thought he could do something comedic with everyone's favorite Amazon (not the book seller grown out of control).

So, why do you think this series never got made?

Follow-Up to last Friday's post

Well, my Plantar Fasciitis is back--the drugs and the time in South Carolina wore off. And it's worse than ever...really distracting me from pretty much everything. Takes me over a day to recover from a shift at work, and less than 2 hours at work to shoot downhill. Anyhow...that and other things were making work unbearable, and affecting life outside of work--particularly dealing with kids and trying to study.

Soooo, I quit my job. I have 5 shifts left. Hopefully that'll allow me to pass my courses this term, and not be an unbearable, um, bear at home.

So there's the update on that post. Thanks for the prayers.

One of my favorite blogs

Hopefully you've all looked over at my blogroll under "Friend's Blogs" and wondered something like, "Jonathan Edwards has a blog? Isn't he too...oh what's the word...dead for that?" and then clicked on the link just to see.

If you haven't, shame on you. Do so immediately (or after you get done reading this post). It's a blog run by my pal TEXpresby, a PCA pastor from (you guessed it) Texas. TEX has this wonderful ability to find fantastic quotes--long and short--inspirational, convicting...far better than chicken soup for the soul.

Anyhow, I bring this up because due to things like hurricanes, pastoring, preaching, fathering, etc. that blog has quieted down somewhat over the last few months. Well, TEX has brought me on board to contribute some nuggets that I stumble across. The major benefit of this is that it seems to have inspired TEX to throw up his first post of 2006--a trend I hope contintues. :)

I don't mention this in the interest of self=promotion, but to promote Edwards, Spurgeon, Ryle and Friends--great stuff to be found in them, folks.

Sing, Sing a Song....

Okay, Arnold isn't exactly picking up the whole talking thing that quickly, the last couple of weeks have seen some great progress, but he's still a far cry from chatty.

But tonight he did something better than utter a sentence. He apparently wasn't satisfied with the hymn we sang at the end of family worship, so as we're all going our own ways, I start getting ready for work, brothers running around enjoying a few seconds before math and penmanship homework, etc., he starts singing. And not just random noises. He starts singing "Holy, Holy, Holy." pretty much the whole first stanza...

Utterly blew me away. "From the mouths of babes..."

How Awful Goodness Is

From a sermon on Biblical Ethics:

He that stands beneath the Cross and understands the scene dares not sin; not because there is a hell beneath him or an angry God above him, but because Holiness is felt to reign there—the ground on which he treads is sacred, the glory of the Lord encircles him, and, like Moses, he must remove the shoes from his feet. The Cross is a venerable spot. I love to linger around it, not merely that I may read my title to everlasting life, but that I may study the greatness of God. I use the term advisedly. God never appears to be so truly great, so intensely holy, as when, from the pure energy of principle, He gives Himself, in the person of His Son, to die, rather than that His character should be impugned. Who dares prevaricate with moral distinctions and talk of death as a greater evil than dishonour, when God, the mighty Maker, died rather than that truth or justice should be compromised? Who, at the foot of Calvary, can pronounce sin to be a slight matter? Here, then, lies the most impressive sanction of revelation. Not content to promulgate the law with absolute certainty, to put under tribute the whole resources of the invisible world, to lay its hand upon eternity and make heaven and hell its ministers, it rises yet higher and seeks to impress us with a subduing sense of the sacredness of right—to make us feel how awful goodness is; it reveals its inherent greatness, unveils its ineffable glory. It does not describe it, but shows it; and we return from the Cross with emotions similar to those of Moses when the name of the Lord was proclaimed, and the goodness of the Lord passed before him in the cleft of the rock. It is the scheme of redemption which crowns the ethical teachings of the Bible. The lesson is sealed at the Cross; there, and there only, do we shudder at sin for its own sake, and reverence right for itself.

-James H. Thornwell

For those of you who are praying types...

I've got a major decision coming down the pike in the next couple of days--pretty sure I've made up my mind, actually, but if I'm heading in an utterly foolish direction, a divine 2x4 upside my head would be quite handy...

WBC: Canada vs. USA

Can I defect now? I can say "eh," I know Bob and Doug McKenzie, I own a couple of tuques, I like Candian singers (Bryan Adams, Alanis, Avril...), they just elected a conservative....

8-6 fer cryin' out loud!!! Thank you, Jason Varitek for saving us from being obliterated.

(who ever thought they'd see me thanking Varitek for anything??)

Logging "The Wedding Singer" as Legal Research

MARCH 6--In what is surely a first for the federal judiciary, a Texas bankruptcy judge has quoted from the Adam Sandler film canon in a recent opinion. Dismissing a motion due to "incomprehensibility," Judge Leif Clark cited a scene from "Billy Madison," Sandler's 1995 comedy, in a footnote to a February 21 court order.

Read the rest here.

Best line in the whole movie...well worth being cited again and again :)

It's Funny Because It's True (or it could be anyway)

This story is almost certainly satire (given it comes from a satire site), but you never can be sure: Jobless Rate for Christian Satirists Skyrockets as Churches Beomce Parodies on Their Own

A twenty year veteran of the Christian humor business, Carmichael was at the height of his game when suddenly the line between satire and reality began to blur this last year. The pivotal moment came when Carmichael mocked up a fake "Biblezine for Girls" and everyone thought it was real. Said Carmichael, "It had Britney Spear’s photo on the cover with the headline: 'Hit Me, Jesus, One More Time: Finding God’s Truth in Pop Song Lyrics'. I knew I was in trouble when Christianity Today thought I was submitting an ad from Family Christian bookstore. Worse yet, Zondervan wanted to sue me for stealing the cover idea for their upcoming 'Hey, Girlfriend!' Bible. How was I supposed to know?"

Notes on the Dad Front

First things first: The Kidney Kid shall henceforth be called Arnold. Just doesn't seem right to tag him with a nickname based solely on his disability. Okay, so naming him for a precocious child-actor who came to fame because of his jowliness and his impaired grown due to kidney disease pretty much does the same, but hey...he was funny. Next goal: teaching The Kidne...er, Arnold a catchphrase or two.

Secondly, Arnold turned two yesterday! Have paused to meditate on God's grace throughout those two years a lot over the last few days. When he was 2 weeks old we expected to go in for a major surgery about this time. Mercifully, it's not now (tho' that would give me an excuse for being so far behind in school...ah well, can't have everything, eh?)--sure, it's looming out there somewhere. But when he's older, can be talked to about what's going on, when he's stronger. (For newer readers who have no idea what I'm talking about, scanning this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and (finally!) this, --in order--should help [thank you, Technocrati for finding those for me!]) But he's walking' working on talking' he's got a great personality, a fierce temper that's a walking monument to his father's depravity; he idolizes Frodo, loves the Princess and Samwise; and other than the whole only having .25 kidney thing is very healthy. We had too many dark nights in the beginning, but for the most part now never think of the kidney nonsense and just enjoy him. Truly an act of providence (and God restraining our hearts from panic and paranoia).

Not much to say on the Princess front. She's adorable, she can only speak in giggles (or so it seems), has her Daddy pretty much wrapped around her finger, and is bursting at the seams to try her hand at reading, writing, 'rithmatic, and particle physics.

Samwise is..., well, Samwise. He's addicted as ever to videogames, a little slow on the thinking through things part, loyal to a fault, normally cheerful as all get out, frequently off in his own little world, and a voracious reader.

I actually pulled out the old "if everyone jumped off a cliff, would you want to?" line on Frodo yesterday. He laughed. He thought it was hilarious. Oh my, I have so much work to do with this one. Don't know where to begin :)

Fun with Broadband

A few things to watch for fun/thought (I'll leave it to you to decide which category each fits in):

• Dog Jokes
• McPassion
• Sleepless in Seattle As a Horror Flick
• Thank You For Smoking trailer
• A Scanner Darkly trailer 2
• In Your Eyes Live
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