Thought for the Lord's Day #9

It cannot be over-emphasized that we have not seen the full meaning of the cross till we have seen it... as the center of the gospel, flanked on the one hand by total inability and unconditional surrender and on the other by irresistible grace and final preservation.

- J. I. Packer

that's what I'd like to know

R. Scott Clark asks the question I've been asking for years:

Why Should We Care What Jim Dobson Says?

A multi-tasker AB have to approve of

Cushions you in a crash, performs the Heimlich manuver...that's what I call a safety feature.

And as long as you will be true to Old Narnia you shall be my King, whatever they say.

Who'da thunk it?

from mlb.com on 9/19/07:

Journey says it all:


misc thoughts on the video:

1. 1. I've read somewhere that the theory that his chorus was stuck in Barnabus' head as he penned the 19^th book of the New Testament will serve as the basis of Dan Brown's next book, The Steve Perry Code
2. Think the last time I saw pants that tight on a dude was the last time I saw John Schlitt in concert. There should be a support group for people like that.

Ahoy, me hearties!

In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day...
For entertain:

and Tom Smith's song, "Talk Like a Pirate Day"

To educate:

Have at it, ye salty sea dogs!

Update: Heh, seems Julie had a similar thought.

Yowza!

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is simply breathtaking...


(H/T: Kletois)

Couple of (short) things to read...

It bugs the tar out of me to read bloggers (especially 'prolific' bloggers) who simply copy someone else's post in its entirety (generally w/o a link to the original site, but they put the other blogger's by-line on it for the sake of intellectual honesty or whatever), but if there was ever a time I was tempted to do it...

• Sabbath a'Brakel: How to Relate to the Unconverted--these Sabbath a'Brakel quotations are always great, but this one particularly hit me
• The Most Perfect Human Compendium of Christian Truth (if I was ripping this one off, I'd have put an ellipses over that hyperbole line)

Calling all Lexicographers

there's gotta be a specific word describing the kind of panic that sets in when you realize you're out of coffee filters days before your next trip to the store for supplies...anyone know what it is?

Monday Morning in the Funnies

• There's a good deal of truth there...
• Roman numeral comedy--does it get better than that?
  

Does it Get Any Cuter?

Somewhere between Wicked Funny and Just Plain Cruel

...lies this:

(H/T: Ken Levine)

I (heart) Jon Favreau!

The first Iron Man trailer is up!

that is soooo money, baby!

Well, Blow Me Down!

I coulda sworn this was in the spring....

International Talk Like A Pirate Day is right around the corner! Thanks, Jules, for the heads up! (and yes, I hotlinked her name mostly as a historical reference...)

been looking for an excuse to finish that other Gideon Defoe novel....


Update: I put the date up on the white board for school, trying to come up with some ways to integrate that into the school day. The Offspring get very excited and (without any prompting from me, mind you) start yelling "Arrrr!" and "scurvy!", etc. And then, in a cockle-warming moment, Samwise starts talking about a book of his that can help them prepare--complete with special pirate words.

From the "Even a Stopped Clock..." file

Hear, Hear Ratzi Benedict!!

Thought for the Lord's Day #8

The most striking feature of the teaching of Jesus is that he was constantly talking about himself. The self-centeredness of the teaching of Jesus immediately sets him apart form the other great religious teachers of the world. They were self-effacing. he was self-advancing. They pointed men away form themselves, saying, 'That is the truth, so far as I perceive it; follow that.' Jesus said, 'I am the truth; follow me.'

- John Stott

Thought for the Lord's Day #7

I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.

- Psalm 138:2

Dear Mr. Gore...

Please read this.

This always cracks me up...

...and now Frodo and Sam are laughing and asking to watch it again...good way to cap off a morning of work :)

First Day

You ever have one of those weeks where everything--and I mean everything you start or intend to start just doesn't work? Well, I'm having one of those (getting better, tho--I think). So the homeschooling I was so looking forward to getting underway with on Tuesday? Mostly started today. Some parts will start on Monday (Deo Volente)...others will start sometime after that.

We've taken more time off this summer than we usually do, and the kids are having a hard time readjusting (me, too, come to think of it...and because things were so strange this morning, no coffee since we finished the pot at work 'round 4:30!)--particularly the attention-span-deprived Samwise.

We got a little workbook on letters and sounds for Arnold to start using--not a serious preschool curriculum, just something on paper for him to do. He loved it, you could really tell he liked sitting down with the others and have me work on a sheet with him.

Anyhow...we've started. By the grace of God, we'll persevere. Here's the obligatory/traditional first day of school blog pictures--enjoy! (you can really tell that Frodo likes me interrupting his thinking for this, huh?)

Not only would I see this in the Theater

(at least twice, including the midnight opening), but I'd buy the Special Deluxe Collector's Edition DVD(s).

You with me, Kletois?

Action Movies

Bubbly

Few weeks back, iTunes Free Single of the Week was the first single from this new artist named Colbie Caillat. Was in the mood for a new tune, so I clicked on it. When the phrase "female Jack Johnson" floated by my eyes, I started downloading.

That was a mistake.

Sorta.

I can't stop listening to it. The song, "Bubbly" is just that--bubbly--a veritable onomatopoeic song. A piece of musical cotton-candy that makes you feel all warm and sunshiny despite your worst, cynical, half-empty glass, is-it-gonna-be-Monday-all-week?, Eeyore-like, I-wish-I-had-a-cat-so-I-could-kick-it mood.

Sweet, simple, catchy--a perfect pop song. Terribly infectious, yet you don't mind getting it stuck in your head all day. The kind of thing you can hear and think "yup, that's why Pop Music exists." You can tolerate (in the sense of not hiring people to kill) Britney, Akon, and whatnot. Last time I can think of a song like this was Sixpence's "Kiss Me," or maybe the aforementioned Johnson's, "Upside Down"--but I don't think that was as widely played.

It starts in my toes
makes me crinkle my nose
where ever it goes
i always know
that you make me smile
please stay for a while now
just take your time

Quote of the Moment

When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of being childish, and the desire to be very grown up.

- C. S. Lewis

Nice little story for a holiday Monday

yeah, yeah, I know...been away for a bit (fighting off a death plague of some sorts [TLoML calls it a cold, but I know better]). Got a few things in the mental hopper, tho. Hopefully can find time for them to pop.

Anyway...Jeff Gordon (not that one) has some nice things to say about this summer in sports--it's not all ugly (and yeah, I'm lookin' at you Balco Barry).

We'd watched the team he mentions winning the Little League World Series lose horribly in the early rounds--heartwarming to see they recovered...I felt so bad for them. Incidentally, the LLWS is probably the best televised baseball each year period. The pros can match it occasionally--but it takes things like Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS to do it.